Jester award ruined Steam Community and so many other Game Communities.

[Lady Alcina Dimitrescu]

• Workshops filled with random content just to receive ANY award.
  
• People making offensive comments about ANYTHING to acquire jester awards.
  
• Most other Game Discussion hubs are ruined because everyone is spamming negative comments/posts about the game to earn jester awards.
  
• Especially the Guide section, filled with "How to open the game" posts accompanied by gigachad meme pictures, with a ton of awards.

The award system was flawed but nice. If there were a punishment system in place, such as deleting comments for ANY reason, the points earned from those comments would also be deleted. Alternatively, giving heavier punishment to people who spam random threads or post negative comments in hopes of obtaining jester awards.

Valve needs to take action regarding this matter. Automated moderators CANNOT detect these individuals; therefore, they are free to farm clown awards or ANY OTHER award as long as they avoid including any kind of rule-breaking word or sentence in their posts.

Their posts could be unconstructive, their posted content might lack value, and their workshop items might even be mere troll posts with no substance.

But hey, as long as they gather those sweet, sweet points, everything seems fine. And they can't get banned because they simply don't break any rules, even though it's so obvious they are trying to provoke others to get clown awards.

This behavior is ruining the community, making it even more toxic than it already is.
Have any of you seen the off-topic section?

That place is a mess, with tons of people making random posts just to get awards.

[Lady Alcina Dimitrescu]

引用自 Nx Machina：

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

Well, finally an actual argument against my opinion!

Now, you don't always need a proof to prove someone doing something intentioally.
Or to get benefit from other people's feelings.

Of course, I can't control people who give jester awards out of frustration and I couldn't care less about it. However, my point is people making troll content/comments or offesive content IN ORDER TO GET AWARDS.

Which includes bad content/offensive comments even breaking rules.
And increased amount of toxicity.
You don't need a glass and proofs in order to understand what people do.

To atleast try to prove my point:

How to kill a women guide.

An attempt to be funny (Which is not funny)
An attempt to offend others (Which it did offend many other people)
Award baiting (It got so many awards)
Trash content (A guide about killing women)

It all checks out!
If awards (especially jester) wasn't a thing OR AT LEAST there was enough moderation, these things wouldn't be a problem at all.
And I wouldn't make this thread.

But you do need to know intent otherwise it IS based on assumption.

Secondly it is odd that you raised the issue of toxicity while previously posting:

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

I saw so many kids like.. 10 year old kids literally more mature than you.
Even tho they shouldn't even have a steam account from the first place.
At least they didn't screamed the N word and be rude like this.

You cannot be 14.
You either act like a 14 YO or just trying to farm clown awards.

Did you know who did I said that to ?

[Lady Alcina Dimitrescu]

And you're still looking for a proof of intention.
Like..
The guy made a guide about how to move.
If you can't see that guide made for award farming, I don't have anything else to say.

[Yujah]

Please don't worry about it Lady; we understand that what you posted was not "toxicity" but was addressing such. Not nice is not the same as toxic. Nx Machina I'd advise to go into e.g. a Counter-Strike (a Valve game...) forum or better still, match, to better understand "toxicity".

[Nx Machina]

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

Did you know who did I said that to ?

Irrelevant as your response was toxic, therefore why complain of toxicity.

[Nx Machina]

引用自 Yujah：

Please don't worry about it Lady; we understand that what you posted was not "toxicity" but was addressing such. Not nice is not the same as toxic. Nx Machina I'd advise to go into e.g. a Counter-Strike (a Valve game...) forum or better still, match, to better understand "toxicity".

I recognise toxicity when i read it, as in:

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

I saw so many kids like.. 10 year old kids literally more mature than you.

[Yujah]

What I recognize is when a thread (or a platform...) has no more realistic hope of recovering from humanity. And as said, it being the umpteenth and then seemingly useless umpteenth one about the same subject anyway, so be it.

[Lady Alcina Dimitrescu]

引用自 Nx Machina：

引用自 Yujah：

Please don't worry about it Lady; we understand that what you posted was not "toxicity" but was addressing such. Not nice is not the same as toxic. Nx Machina I'd advise to go into e.g. a Counter-Strike (a Valve game...) forum or better still, match, to better understand "toxicity".

I recognise toxicity when i read it, as in:

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

I saw so many kids like.. 10 year old kids literally more mature than you.

What are you trying to say ?

My comment was against SOMEONE who is award farming AND making fake assumptions.

That person said "They can update the game easily, they just need to copy the game and paste it to another engine".
He said random things to everyone in his thread.
You only see MY comments but not the OP of that thread ?

I also act toxic sometimes.
I'm not refusing that at all.

But I'm not always like that, unless someone actually acts dumb or toxic OR ignorant and tries to convince others to something wrong, yes I become toxic.

My point is, people being toxic TO GET awards.
My comment is toxic but not made to get an award.

Meanwhile look at the previous posts I sent. such as:

This one
Where people being rude just to get clown awards.
It is easy to understand who is toxic to get awards, and who is toxic because of an argument.

[ThotsBContagious]

引用自 yesskillch：

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

Well said.
I think the upvote/downvote system would be much better for Steam than awards, as giving a downvote means nothing compared to losing 400 points.
It won't necessarily solve everything, but the goal here is to make the community and the users less toxic.
As I mentioned earlier, useless content and comments outweigh constructive, well-thought-out comments and content that actually requires effort.

The issue with a comment-point system of any kind is it just rewards mobocracy.

People who lack critical thinking and reading skills could just glance at a long comment with -2 points and say "wow, that guy is obviously stupid and coping with his wall of text" and join in on the dogpile.

Lo and behold, said comment reaches -50 because it's just a meme to downvote at that point.

You'd be surprised how a small dash in front of a number can heavily influence how a comment is perceived to the masses.

It's even more damaging to the flow of discussion because (in addition to what I previously mentioned):

• Voting on someone's content costs nothing, unlike points.
  
• The person who receives said votes gets nothing in return besides being shunned for having an opinion.

Both are dangerous and should be rid of.

Pretty bad you just described reddit yet I see this more on just about every social media now.

Steam included..

[miakisfan]

It only ruins things if you allow it to. Just brush it off and move on. Never let others rent space in your head unless it is life or death.

It also pays to remember that the person giving you that Jester is about as perfect as you are ... which is to say not perfect at all. It really shouldn't amaze people how others act when they are safe and sound behind their computer screen.

[greentiger]

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

• Workshops filled with random content just to receive ANY award.
  
• People making offensive comments about ANYTHING to acquire jester awards.
  
• Most other Game Discussion hubs are ruined because everyone is spamming negative comments/posts about the game to earn jester awards.
  
• Especially the Guide section, filled with "How to open the game" posts accompanied by gigachad meme pictures, with a ton of awards.

The award system was flawed but nice. If there were a punishment system in place, such as deleting comments for ANY reason, the points earned from those comments would also be deleted. Alternatively, giving heavier punishment to people who spam random threads or post negative comments in hopes of obtaining jester awards.

Valve needs to take action regarding this matter. Automated moderators CANNOT detect these individuals; therefore, they are free to farm clown awards or ANY OTHER award as long as they avoid including any kind of rule-breaking word or sentence in their posts.

Their posts could be unconstructive, their posted content might lack value, and their workshop items might even be mere troll posts with no substance.

But hey, as long as they gather those sweet, sweet points, everything seems fine. And they can't get banned because they simply don't break any rules, even though it's so obvious they are trying to provoke others to get clown awards.

This behavior is ruining the community, making it even more toxic than it already is.
Have any of you seen the off-topic section?

That place is a mess, with tons of people making random posts just to get awards.

The Steam devs don't care.

[Zefar]

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

The award system was flawed but nice. If there were a punishment system in place, such as deleting comments for ANY reason, the points earned from those comments would also be deleted. Alternatively, giving heavier punishment to people who spam random threads or post negative comments in hopes of obtaining jester awards.

Valve will not do this due to the fact that points are gotten by paying for things and if people get their topic with a lot of rewards deleted several months down the line and is put in negative all of sudden, it'd be a bad experience.

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

But hey, as long as they gather those sweet, sweet points, everything seems fine. And they can't get banned because they simply don't break any rules, even though it's so obvious they are trying to provoke others to get clown awards.

The amount of people who care about points and awards are actually pretty small. You're just seeing the people who would troll even without a point system just being rewarded with jesters.

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

This behavior is ruining the community, making it even more toxic than it already is.
Have any of you seen the off-topic section?

That place is a mess, with tons of people making random posts just to get awards.

Off topic has been a mess long before points system was put in place. With Valve even relaxing the rules there even more it became the wild west.

Also as someone who has been here since the start and Moderated the forums for a long time.
The point system hasn't changed much at all in how people post.
People just think every troll is doing it for the points these days.

[Ionut Catalin Frasineanu]

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

• Workshops filled with random content just to receive ANY award.
  
• People making offensive comments about ANYTHING to acquire jester awards.
  
• Most other Game Discussion hubs are ruined because everyone is spamming negative comments/posts about the game to earn jester awards.
  
• Especially the Guide section, filled with "How to open the game" posts accompanied by gigachad meme pictures, with a ton of awards.

The award system was flawed but nice. If there were a punishment system in place, such as deleting comments for ANY reason, the points earned from those comments would also be deleted. Alternatively, giving heavier punishment to people who spam random threads or post negative comments in hopes of obtaining jester awards.

Valve needs to take action regarding this matter. Automated moderators CANNOT detect these individuals; therefore, they are free to farm clown awards or ANY OTHER award as long as they avoid including any kind of rule-breaking word or sentence in their posts.

Their posts could be unconstructive, their posted content might lack value, and their workshop items might even be mere troll posts with no substance.

But hey, as long as they gather those sweet, sweet points, everything seems fine. And they can't get banned because they simply don't break any rules, even though it's so obvious they are trying to provoke others to get clown awards.

This behavior is ruining the community, making it even more toxic than it already is.
Have any of you seen the off-topic section?

That place is a mess, with tons of people making random posts just to get awards.

yes true!

[Trofast 🤕]

引用自 SqueakyTweaky：

Leave the clown alone, it is free points.

[Lady Alcina Dimitrescu]

引用自 Zefar：

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

The award system was flawed but nice. If there were a punishment system in place, such as deleting comments for ANY reason, the points earned from those comments would also be deleted. Alternatively, giving heavier punishment to people who spam random threads or post negative comments in hopes of obtaining jester awards.

Valve will not do this due to the fact that points are gotten by paying for things and if people get their topic with a lot of rewards deleted several months down the line and is put in negative all of sudden, it'd be a bad experience.

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

But hey, as long as they gather those sweet, sweet points, everything seems fine. And they can't get banned because they simply don't break any rules, even though it's so obvious they are trying to provoke others to get clown awards.

The amount of people who care about points and awards are actually pretty small. You're just seeing the people who would troll even without a point system just being rewarded with jesters.

引用自 Lady Alcina Dimitrescu：

This behavior is ruining the community, making it even more toxic than it already is.
Have any of you seen the off-topic section?

That place is a mess, with tons of people making random posts just to get awards.

Off topic has been a mess long before points system was put in place. With Valve even relaxing the rules there even more it became the wild west.

Also as someone who has been here since the start and Moderated the forums for a long time.
The point system hasn't changed much at all in how people post.
People just think every troll is doing it for the points these days.

In response to the first question, yes, you acquire points simply by giving money. However, if you transfer these points to someone else, I don't see any problem with that. Offensive threads are deleted, but if a thread is derailed, it usually gets locked. So your awards will be still there, doesn't get deleted.

Nevertheless, considering the current moderation system's tendency towards false positives, I believe implementing a similar punishment could benefit the community by reducing the amount of toxic or unrelated content in the game hubs.

Regarding the second question; regrettably, I disagree. There is a significant number of people who care about points and awards. This is precisely why I initiated a thread like this in the first place. It's the indecency, rudeness and the toxicity resulting from low-quality content that individuals produce in hopes of receiving awards. The Steam Community was already lacking in decency, or good content and now it has worsened.

To address the third point, while Off-topic discussions have always been chaotic, the award system has exacerbated the situation. I'm not saying that every is aimed at trolling others solely to acquire awards; rather, there are many people who resort to trolling others just to gain awards.

[Gregarsky]

I wholeheartedly agree, the Jester award brings nothing good to the table. If a post is downright ofensive, their author should be banned, and if it's simply bad or if people disagree with it, it should just be ignored. No need for a weird "award" with an insulting meaning.

The way it is now, bullies and toxic people can both give this stupid clown to honest reviews and users they just disagree with and be insufferable to others for the sole purpose of farming points by getting those. It's a double edged toxicity sword that only makes this community a worse place.

And if you complain about it, people will also say you're farming jesters. Just remove them once and for all, they were a bad idea.