Rename this forum to "Roleplaying & Training"

[Elation]

I've started to realize that this forum section is not actually for making suggestions for the Steam platform. Rather, it's a place for people to pretend they're Valve employees and roleplay as such. It's also a great place for customer support agents-in-training to practice giving boilerplate & copy-pasted responses as well, even getting into character by frequently not really reading the thread they're replying to and only giving a vaguely related reply.

[Psymon²]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von William Shakesman:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von HikariLight:

The point of this forum is for users to suggest ideas and then to discuss that idea with other users.

Someone giving their opinion and then someone not liking that opinion is not harassment.

Unfortunately quite a lot of people here assume that "giving their opinion" is a blank check to say whatever they like without any care for how they say it or the rules. Sadly common these days. Like telling the cop that pulled you over that you were just "giving your opinion" to the Speed Limit sign.

moderators are incapable of recognising gaslighting.
no troll has ever intended to be fair and rational.
the more irrational, the stronger the bait.

[Elation]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von The Commendatore:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Psymon²:

don't forget the one about putting people in the showers :D:

valve could solve a lot of trouble by simply having a persistent message at the top of every forum page with "you should not expect respectful or constructive discussion here".

Just because people disagree with your "ideas", if we can even call them that, or your hot takes, doesn't mean it's all disrespectful or non-constructive.

It's true, not all of it is.

But a lot of it does come across as quite disrespectful, or at the least, unnecessarily aggressive. It gives the impression that some users become a bit nerve-touched over suggesting that the platform isn't perfect as is and needs some improvements (sometimes basic things that other websites have had for years).

[Elation]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Psymon²:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von William Shakesman:

Unfortunately quite a lot of people here assume that "giving their opinion" is a blank check to say whatever they like without any care for how they say it or the rules. Sadly common these days. Like telling the cop that pulled you over that you were just "giving your opinion" to the Speed Limit sign.

moderators are incapable of recognising gaslighting.
no troll has ever intended to be fair and rational.
the more irrational, the stronger the bait.

The AI moderators don't seem to be capable of recognizing a lot of things. For example, as the both of us have mentioned multiple times, a certain post calling for people of a particular demographic be put to death by a method used in ♥♥♥♥ concentration camps.

It's said that moderators only act on reports, but I have to wonder if they also only act on specific keywords considering how many things that really shouldn't be moderated, do get moderated, and a lot of things that should be moderated, don't get moderated.

[Psymon²]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Elation:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Psymon²:

moderators are incapable of recognising gaslighting.
no troll has ever intended to be fair and rational.
the more irrational, the stronger the bait.

The AI moderators don't seem to be capable of recognizing a lot of things. For example, as the both of us have mentioned multiple times, a certain post calling for people of a particular demographic be put to death by a method used in ♥♥♥♥ concentration camps.

It's said that moderators only act on reports, but I have to wonder if they also only act on specific keywords considering how many things that really shouldn't be moderated, do get moderated, and a lot of things that should be moderated, don't get moderated.

indeed.
decent people tend to treat a report as a last resort.
hence so many taking the bait and trying to reason with trolls instead of report and ignore.
trolls like being blocked as it means they're less likely to get reported too.
it's why they're so fervently against the "two way block" suggestions, as that'd severely impact their ability to troll.

might not be many, but too many users know how exploitable the report button is and gladly continue with report abuse, since there's clearly no such thing as punishment for report abuse.

the inmates run the asylum.

[Volfogg]

From my experience, you can either run into condescending, insufferable know-it-all types here or those types that only whine and complain about every minor inconvenience with Steam. Unsurprisingly those types clash violently. This really can make someone snap, due to sheer absurdity.

[Psymon²]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Volfogg:

From my experience, you can either run into condescending, insufferable know-it-all types here or those types that only whine and complain about every minor inconvenience with Steam. Unsurprisingly those types clash violently. This really can make someone snap, due to sheer absurdity.

which are you?

[Pierce Dalton]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Psymon²:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Pierce Dalton:

Well, you are correct, Mod Scientist. I doubt that forums managed by other companies would allow people to say things like "black culture promotes violence" or "I wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire".

This is really embarassing for Valve.

don't forget the one about putting people in the showers :D:

valve could solve a lot of trouble by simply having a persistent message at the top of every forum page with "you should not expect respectful or constructive discussion here".

To be fair, in any gaming related forum. Although I'm sure others may be a lot harsher with the mentioned cases.

[Pierce Dalton]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von cinedine:

Jeez, some people simply cannot do without bringing up that whole forum drama. Wonder why some get so butthurt when others mention "valva wanna-bes" and "secret cabal" ...

Secret? Well, maybe for the newcomers...

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Tito Shivan:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Pierce Dalton:

Well, good thing no one here has to like anything, since no one here works at Valve. Supposedly.

According to some there's nothing but Steam employees posting here.

"Steam employee" is far from being the only "roleplay" people do here.

Well, evidently that's very far from the truth. There's also a lot of no-[guess the word ] individuals posting here.

[Haruspex]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Elation:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von potato:

i'm just wondering how make the distinction between what's copy/pasted and what isn't, cause otherwise you're just making baseless claims without proof

I have seen some people use word-for-word responses to more common suggestions. I have also seen boiler-plate responses which are not exactly word-for-word but use nearly identical phrasing to previous replies.

Some of us have gotten so used to replying with the same information to the same tired suggestions every single time that it might start to sound a little repetitive. Some suggestions and posts are so common and frequent, that I've noticed a few users have ready-to-go copy-paste responses, and honestly I don't blame them. Like for example, the countless "I was hacked. Wat do?" threads. It's always the same post, and the answer doesn't change so why not?

I've personally noticed that longer, carefully thought out posts like I tend to make often just get ignored. Shorter, simpler, punchier posts get more of a response. Some users have really become good at this, but again, it does start to feel repetitive.

We would probably see this repetitiveness a lot less frequently if people searched the forum first to see if their question has already been asked and answered before posting.

There's also that conspiracy theory that Steam is actually a dead platform. Nobody actually uses it. Most of us are AI chatbots or Valve employees pretending to be regular users. We all just keep up this charade in order to, I know know what... Fool the few real people into thinking Steam is successful and well patroned? I guess?

Ursprünglich geschrieben von freemankrystina892:

I have never seen the suggestion forum on steam actually put in a good use or change. I dont even know why steam bothered to put up a "suggestions/Ideas forum".

I remember seeing a lot of people suggestion they add a kind of "notes" section to the Steam overlay. Then one day, we get notes in the Steam overlay. I guess it could have been coincidental.

[Elation]

I decided to read a certain thread about implementing age verification for German customers and couldn't feel more justified in making this thread or some of the replies and points made herein. Several posts from the usual suspects where they purposely miss the point, because they are absolutely sure that Valve most certainly cannot implement something because...reasons.

[Pierce Dalton]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Haruspex:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Elation:

I have seen some people use word-for-word responses to more common suggestions. I have also seen boiler-plate responses which are not exactly word-for-word but use nearly identical phrasing to previous replies.

Some of us have gotten so used to replying with the same information to the same tired suggestions every single time

Why, though?

Like, you don't have to reply. Funnily enough, some users think that evaluating suggestions made here is their job. And when they're called Valve employees they get offended... lol.

[Volfogg]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Psymon²:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Volfogg:

From my experience, you can either run into condescending, insufferable know-it-all types here or those types that only whine and complain about every minor inconvenience with Steam. Unsurprisingly those types clash violently. This really can make someone snap, due to sheer absurdity.

which are you? :D:

Is this a loaded question? Because it looks like a loaded question.

I'm just a type that simply "wants to watch the world burn" at this point...
A little...
Out of curiosity...
It could be an interesting experience for a change...
I mean... it could always happen, right?

[Elation]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Haruspex:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Elation:

I have seen some people use word-for-word responses to more common suggestions. I have also seen boiler-plate responses which are not exactly word-for-word but use nearly identical phrasing to previous replies.

Some of us have gotten so used to replying with the same information to the same tired suggestions every single time that it might start to sound a little repetitive. Some suggestions and posts are so common and frequent, that I've noticed a few users have ready-to-go copy-paste responses, and honestly I don't blame them. Like for example, the countless "I was hacked. Wat do?" threads. It's always the same post, and the answer doesn't change so why not?

I don't consider people copy-pasting responses to the "My account has been hacked" threads to be the same problem, honestly. In this instance, these replies are actually helpful because time is of the essence when someone's made an oopsie with their account security. Replying as soon as possible with all the necessary information to secure the account is actually helpful and in this case also probably faster than waiting for a reply from Steam support.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Haruspex:

I've personally noticed that longer, carefully thought out posts like I tend to make often just get ignored. Shorter, simpler, punchier posts get more of a response. Some users have really become good at this, but again, it does start to feel repetitive.

We would probably see this repetitiveness a lot less frequently if people searched the forum first to see if their question has already been asked and answered before posting.

There's also that conspiracy theory that Steam is actually a dead platform. Nobody actually uses it. Most of us are AI chatbots or Valve employees pretending to be regular users. We all just keep up this charade in order to, I know know what... Fool the few real people into thinking Steam is successful and well patroned? I guess?

I find that there is a certain threshold where most people will simply start skimming your post or just decide not to respond to it at all. Most people probably consider it beyond being worth the mental effort or extra time it would take to read. In a way, it's probably a good tool to filter out people who you probably aren't going to get anywhere with anyway.

Also, I think that people might feel more encouraged to use the search feature if necros weren't instantly locked unless it really is a pointless necro. But I know that you won't stop everyone and some people will just recreate the same thread no matter what. I don't inherently have a problem with people giving copy-paste responses to extremely oversatured suggestions as well. My main problem (as I have pointed out) is when people sometimes don't actually read the suggestion and wrongly assume it's about something that it's not, and give a canned response that is actually unrelated.

As for the "dead platform" theory, no, I don't think so. It's obviously a pretty thriving place and there are lots of new users every day. But the forums are surprisingly pretty dead, even though the platform is apparently pretty huge. I guess it makes sense that most people only come here to play games and not to post on the forums, but it's still a little surprising to me how little traffic they have and the low amount of regulars. It's weird, too, because it's something Valve has up on the competition, the Epic Games client doesn't have its own forum, and neither does the EA app or Ubisoft app, etc.

[Haruspex]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Pierce Dalton:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Haruspex:

Some of us have gotten so used to replying with the same information to the same tired suggestions every single time

Why, though?

Like, you don't have to reply.

Boredom.

Feeling a desire to inform and potentially act as a counter-balance to what we perceive as false or even outright deceptive information.

Caring about the well being of this community, and a general feeling that if the adults in the room do nothing, the inmates will take over this asylum and run it into the ground.

[cinedine]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Haruspex:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Elation:

I have seen some people use word-for-word responses to more common suggestions. I have also seen boiler-plate responses which are not exactly word-for-word but use nearly identical phrasing to previous replies.

Some of us have gotten so used to replying with the same information to the same tired suggestions every single time that it might start to sound a little repetitive.

People don't have to reply.

That's playing into the part of "training as a support agent". You can just ignore the umpteenth iteration of the same topic. And if a suggestion is completely ridiculous, you can also just ignore them.

It's funny that I often find the same people who complain about troll threads populating the troll threads. Instead of just ignoring them, they fuel it and later make a suggestion to ban the trolls.

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Haruspex:

There's also that conspiracy theory that Steam is actually a dead platform. Nobody actually uses it. Most of us are AI chatbots or Valve employees pretending to be regular users. We all just keep up this charade in order to, I know know what... Fool the few real people into thinking Steam is successful and well patroned? I guess?

Quite honestly, if people *frequently* characterise my posts as coming from a broken AI, I might think about my posting habits. And there are quite a few users on here where the shoe might fit.