New Forum Policy: No Hateful Posts

Path of Exile's forums have been live for over three years. The community has swelled considerably from the early days of a few hundred posters to the current set of 50k or so active posters (representing about 3% of our active players). With the forum population bolstered by our release in October, we've noticed that a few very hostile community members are drastically poisoning the experience for our community, new users and even the developers. We are making some adjustments to the posting policy to make sure that the forum remains a friendly place for discussion of Path of Exile going forward.

Right at the start of the forum, we decided not to censor people's views. We never deleted posts/threads (unless they were vastly inappropriate) and we let people say whatever they wanted. We were completely happy for people who had problems with Path of Exile to post critical threads and discuss the various merits and flaws of the game. These threads spawned great solutions to many problems and helped us understand our product better.

In the last couple of months, a few dozen users have started posting extremely negative hateful comments in threads, completely derailing them and either encouraging other users to personally attack them or jump on the vitriol bandwagon. We found situations where the current forum rules were causing the people defending our game to get probated, rather than the user who was just trying to stir trouble.

Our adjusted policy is: The Path of Exile forums are for civil, constructive discussion of the game. Hateful posts will be removed and the users who posted them may be probated. Please note that this is a substantial enforcement change from our current policy. If you post a thread called "Path of Exile is shit and GGG are evil" then you will get probated. If you post in a thread about a new skill saying "in before you nerf this too", don't expect the post to stick around.

There are appropriate ways to discuss concerns like this. If you feel that the game is terrible and that our company is evil, please discuss it in a constructive way. If you have a problem with us rebalancing the game, please lay out your concerns with how it affects your gameplay. Passive-aggressively accusing us of being bad developers is not useful to anyone.

On that topic, developers have feelings too. I care about the health of my team, and that includes their mental health. Some threads recently have honestly been incredibly hurtful and horrible to read. I have a thick skin, but I will not tolerate the forum causing my developers to feel upset about the reaction to the hard work they're putting in. They love constructive feedback on their work and really like hearing the good and bad points that you've seen in it.

I understand that 99% of users on the forum are absolutely wonderful people and are already going above and beyond their obligations to give us constructive feedback with a smile. Thank you so much for that.

To the other 1%: We really value what you feel about the game, especially if you had a bad experience. Please post it in a constructive way though, so that we can actually have a conversation about it in a way that doesn't involve name calling.

[This thread has been locked by Support to prevent further necro-posting]
Lead Developer. Follow us on: Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Contact Support if you need help!
Last edited by Rob_GGG on May 17, 2016, 4:04:33 AM
Last bumped on May 17, 2016, 3:54:41 AM
"
Chris wrote:
If you post in a thread about a new skill saying "in before you nerf this too", don't expect the post to stick around.


And now you even nerf QQ? This is going [Removed by Admin].

PS: Honestly I think it's sad that it has come to this point, but your reaction is understandable. :/
Last edited by Asphael on Dec 1, 2013, 8:17:05 PM
I don't even..
Edit: I support this decision, hopefully there will be less crap on the forums.
Last edited by rem3thed2 on Dec 1, 2013, 8:30:40 PM
I love this move.

It is rather difficult for some people to recognize that "Feedback" is supposed to read as "Here is x and y point about why z feature is harmful to the game," rather than, to quote the OP, "Path of Exile is shit and GGG are evil." Freedom of speech has its limits, limits that one generally call defamation, slander, incitement, etc. As a private company, GGG is perfectly within its rights to enforce those limits.

It is also difficult for some people to recognize that removed post content does not always mean draconic enforced-happy-times tyrannical censorship fascism etc. Anyone getting this kind of wrong idea should probably realize that GGG does invite players to contact Support with any complaints they have about removed posts, bans, mutes, etc.

In a phrase, I'd say it's about time GGG put its foot down.
Need game info? Check out the Wiki at: https://www.poewiki.net/

Contact support@grindinggear.com for account issues. Check out How to Report Bugs + Post Images at: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/18347
Last edited by adghar on Dec 1, 2013, 8:20:29 PM
Good. In game mutes also.
Such thread. Much good. Wow.

Seriously though, good on you, GGG. Here's hoping the forums become a much better place ^.^
"I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant; it's what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are." - Mewtwo
This is good
"
haplessG00N wrote:
Good. In game mutes also.


^^ This, I turn off my in-game chat 90% of the time now because the quality of people posting ingame has dropped significantly.. I used to always try to help people with questions but even just a minute or two of reading chat completely ruins the experience for me.

I 'in-my-own-way' can fully understand why the forum policies are being updated and I throw an appreciative nod to you caring about your co-workers/developers quality of life while on the job..

Last edited by Gixxerdude on Dec 1, 2013, 8:31:26 PM
Here's hoping that I can start reading threads in general again.
"Withdrawing in disgust is not the same as apathy"

This is fantastic news. Thank you guys. Seriously.
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

Report Forum Post

Report Account:

Report Type

Additional Info