OFFICIAL Status Update System Abuse And Proper Etiquette

Perseus

Not Medusa
Forum Staff
Moderator
Okay, we have had several complaints from members about the status update system being abused in multiple ways every now and then lately. So I'd like to point out what you should not do beforehand, since the moderating staff is likely to be a bit more strict from now on and even inclined to issue warning points to those select few who care not to listen. The forum staff reserves the right to remove every status update or comment if deemed of an annoyance to others. If one of yours is removed then you will be notified as to why. But if you have any queries or explanations to offer, please consider contacting a member of staff rather than calling us out of names.

For starters, please do NOT form status update chains, i.e., posting a status update similar in style and structure to the last one in the new updates section. For instance, when everybody starts posting those pointless "that moment when ..." updates just because somebody else did. It's neither acceptable nor funny and such updates might be removed without notice. If you want to have fun, please limit yourself to a single update, for we won't want our members to dig through the mess to find actually interesting or funny content.

Also note that status updates are a SOCIAL feature and should not be used for asking technical or programming questions. We have a whole set of sub-forums for those things and you'll get more (and better) replies by making a topic. The forums are also searchable and so your topics will be helping others later, while status updates only help you, and nobody else.

Another problem that I'd like to address here is that some members post status updates too much. Pointless drivel that makes no sense most of the time. While we realize that the profile feed is your (somewhat) personal space and there's no hard limit on how many updates can be posted in a time period, nobody loves it when 90% of the board is made up of updates by the same member. You should post only when necessasy, so that everybody gets equal exposure and it's not just you waving at your fellow members every time they view the status board. Maybe post just 1 or 2 updates per day -- once something important happens.

While I'm at it, I should also point out that objectionable content rarely gets reported. When it gets spotted by moderators, we find out you guys were too busy with those nasty discussions to report them. PLEASE HIT THAT REPORT BUTTON. Unless we know something needs to be fixed, we can't fix it. So next time you see someone looking for a girl to date or anything that might make even a single person feel uncomfortable, please report it right away! Don't just join them and create more of chaos. Behave sensibly, use the system responsibly and if somebody doesn't, let us know, otherwise we will have to reconsider having status updates at all. And bad things will happen to abusers.
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
So next time you see someone looking for a girl to date
Is that inherently so bad? seems like i have been building my cred here for nothing then...

The simple solution to all that is to simply post your chain-style update as a comment to the original. You keep all the fun without being obnoxious, (Unless, actual conversation happened on that update, in which case, grow up).
 

Tthecreator

Your Creator!
Us profile poster need to watch out now ;) I remember every single example you gave so....

Maybe post just 1 or 2 updates per day
Well, that's what I've been doing and I'm still part of
90% of the board
So let me tell you what I DO like about the status update section. (Yes I agree with most of what you said but still I want to bring some positivity)
First of all, I really enjoy socializing there. I like the format and the type of persons you find at this forum.
Although some of the things are not that regarded towards game design, or coding (what you are calling
Pointless drivel that makes no sense most of the time
) a lot of these things still make me laugh.
I'd like to make a distinction between complete nonsense and funny things. I mean check out @Linkforce's page. He is our dump for bad jokes (yet they are funny because of that).
A lot of time these things make my day.

Now I'm going to give you my view of how I would handle the profile post update section. I'm not expecting you to agree, like or use my opinions but I'm going to give it anyways. (This is coming from one of the profile posting culprits after all.)
To begin, I'd limit the amount of profile posts someone can make. The best way to do this in my opinion is just to allow one person to be on the profile board only once. (or make it stricter, practically don't use a timer or anything but let if be defined by number of posts)
Then, I'd actually lower the limits of commenting on a status. I mean just enlarge the character limit and remove the annoying timer for some users (not for all, you don't want spammers). If two different persons are asking me two questions under different statuses I want to be able to respond to both of them and not have to wait. This is also the case for having to reply to multiple people under a single profile post. I don't want to have to write different comments just to leave my constructive story.

The last part may sound naggy. But that is not my intention at all. It's my genuine view, not a "please do this". If it were then nagging about it under a post about how problematic the system is would be a full-on stupid idea. I'm guilty as charged when it comes some of these problems you proposed.
 
G

Greenhawk

Guest
So I guess the "What did I miss in the few months I've been gone?" question is no longer valid. ;)
 
M

Misu

Guest
I like to comment about something called "like farming" or abusing the usage of giving "likes" in comments (not status post itself). Ive seen this happen oftenly on the forum (specially two specific members Ive seen active that I am not gonna mention their names) and I believe it should have a restriction limit or just a rule to avoid such dilemma since most of these likes are not even from real comments or they are just plain 💩💩💩💩post spamming. People tend to use another user to escalate the "like" system intentionally and its not a fair view when other users respect the usage how it is. This only provides falsehood on the display on "most notable members" list, when these likes are not from real good source or any good usage. Ive seen this occur before, even the worse case scenarios before (back then it was spamming statuses as well), although right now it is not devastating like it used to be but giving likes on fake or unnecessary comments to escalate the rank is something that need to be fixed.
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
I like to comment about something called "like farming" or abusing the usage of giving "likes" in comments (not status post itself). Ive seen this happen oftenly on the forum (specially two specific members Ive seen active that I am not gonna mention their names) and I believe it should have a restriction limit or just a rule to avoid such dilemma since most of these likes are not even from real comments or they are just plain ****post spamming. People tend to use another user to escalate the "like" system intentionally and its not a fair view when other users respect the usage how it is. This only provides falsehood on the display on "most notable members" list, when these likes are not from real good source or any good usage. Ive seen this occur before, even the worse case scenarios before (back then it was spamming statuses as well), although right now it is not devastating like it used to be but giving likes on fake or unnecessary comments to escalate the rank is something that need to be fixed.
I mean... you could honestly knock off 1000 likes off my profile, they where obtained from a previous GMC member who just felt nice that day...
 
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zendraw

Guest
why does any1 care if the status update gets abused? its not like ull see something thats existentially important to you, and if it actually is? then you need a reality check. for me it has aways been a chat thing. and maybe perhaps a better idea wuld be instead of putting rules and restrictions or removing the feature atall. add another feature. chat i remember some years ago in a forum there was a chat on the top of the forum where people culd smalltalk all day. maybe this abuse of this system is a sign that peoplel NEED a chat in the forum.

please consider. otherwise you will just abuse ur power over the users here. and its not that big of an issue in my opinion.
 

GMWolf

aka fel666
why does any1 care if the status update gets abused? its not like ull see something thats existentially important to you, and if it actually is? then you need a reality check. for me it has aways been a chat thing. and maybe perhaps a better idea wuld be instead of putting rules and restrictions or removing the feature atall. add another feature. chat i remember some years ago in a forum there was a chat on the top of the forum where people culd smalltalk all day. maybe this abuse of this system is a sign that peoplel NEED a chat in the forum.

please consider. otherwise you will just abuse ur power over the users here. and its not that big of an issue in my opinion.
I do like that idea! An irc style chat box for the GMC would be great!
 

Nocturne

Friendly Tyrant
Forum Staff
Admin
We will not (and never) have a chat on the GMC. That would require far too much moderation and neither I nor YoYo Games want to take on that responsibility. I know of dozens of GM chats that are directly and indirectly related to the GMC on Slack and Discord so join one of them if you feel the need.

As for this:

and its not that big of an issue in my opinion.
In your opinion. You are one person and we have a responsibility to hundreds of people not just you... Personally I don't think it's that much of an issue either, but there have been enough complaints by users for the staff to have to step in and do something. Keep in mind that likes are supposed to signify good content and are there to help new members find the "power" users, as well as to let you show appreciation for something well written or helpful. Over-inflating the likes for one person is to misrepresent their position, and is an abuse of the system as it was designed.
 
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Tthecreator

Your Creator!
The thing is, if you get many likes from status post, it isn't representative of how skilled you are thus not representative of how much you can help others (which is the main idea behind the forums after all). When helping people, they don't often give likes. That's not a problem in itself, who can blame them? But because of the proportions between help posts and profile (comment) posts, likes aren't worth anything.
Post count isn't quite representative either with the off topic and forum game stuff.

That said, I still really like the format of the status posts. It's not quite a chat conversation, and also not a place for complete posts like you would do elsewhere.
When I press press like on a status post (or a comment below that) then it's because it's either something I agree with, something that's remotely funny, shows something cool or if I think what their saying it somewhat interesting.
Those are very broad and unspecific reasons to like it and I used to like way too much stuff, until I got called out for it. (maybe I still do a little, but it's posts like the one from @Misu that remind me that I shouldn't.) The thing is, I don't give a crap about likes anymore, but it takes a long time for people to understand that it doesn't mean anything. I also understand that the things I say in posts like these don't actually always reflect the actions I actually take in the profile post section, even though I do mean what I say.
 
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zendraw

Guest
why wuld u need to moderate a chat room? if some1 curses in it or somthin, others report it u warn him or ban him or w/e and thats that. what are you talking about that its too much to handle? some1 stayn there 24/7? theres no need for that. maybe ur system of dealing with unwanted content is not good. for instance mathroo and misu are admins in the discord server and i dont see them sweatin or bein obstructed in some way from doin theyr thing. base your complaints on somthing factual and actual and dont just throw excuses, some of us are not kids that will take your word for it.
 

Tthecreator

Your Creator!
@blacklemon I'm pretty sure they just want to have maximum control, just to feel safe themselves. Because their representing a company and bla bla bla. For now with the chatting, just stick to the discord./
 

sylvain_l

Member
why wuld u need to moderate a chat room? if some1 curses in it or somthin, others report it u warn him or ban him or w/e and thats that. what are you talking about that its too much to handle? some1 stayn there 24/7? theres no need for that. maybe ur system of dealing with unwanted content is not good. for instance mathroo and misu are admins in the discord server and i dont see them sweatin or bein obstructed in some way from doin theyr thing. base your complaints on somthing factual and actual and dont just throw excuses, some of us are not kids that will take your word for it.
there is a big difference when a discord (or anything chatty like) is tagged as unofficial & animatted by free staff community, and when it's an official one, with official represetative to admin it.
In first case at worse, responsabilities are just individual; not corporate. (if for example misu decide he doesn't like you and ban you, you are going to sue him to gain access to an unofficial/kinda half private discrod the admin decide he didn't like you -sorry there are no law that enforce everybody to love you-?)

in 2nd case when it's official, it put the responsability of the company in line as it acts kinda like a publisher of the content not only about their product, but about any other individual, company or product of others!! -even if they say everyone is responsible for what they say--. Same about the responsability of the admin that need to do it's job right if he doesn't want to get in trouble with his employer. (and even if there is not such thing as a formal NDA, there are always thing that can not be officially explained, or required before to go through PR department, etc...). Makes thing much more complex and tense.
 
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zendraw

Guest
i think ur overstretchin it, its not like if some1 curses in the chat room people will say, yoyo! you advertise swearing to us? how dare u! unsubscribed!. and again ur talkin as if were terrorists here and are gona make plans in that chat. chill out a bit. its gona be the same as the status update except it will constantly be updated with more chit-chat.
anyway i dont really care, if they dont want to progress its on them.
 

Perseus

Not Medusa
Forum Staff
Moderator
@blackmelon: You'll probobably begin to advocate against a chatroom if you get to see the amount of tantrums that get thrown around the forums over trivial arguements in status updates. If something like the status update system is added on a larger scale, then I'm sorry to say but the GMC is pretty much doomed.

Not every member of the GMC is as mature as you possibly are, so it's quite understandable why the administration won't want a chatroom to be added here. Besides, the Discord chatrooms that you're using as an instance aren't even a portion of the GMC. Comparing the burden upon people moderating a group of fifty and a forum with fifteen thousand members is just oranges and apples. It's a whole different story with the latter. We've gone through it, so we can tell better.
 
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zendraw

Guest
so ur sayn its going to be somthing like a youtube/twitch stream chat room? i cant say im against that, still im for experiments, again this is just my opinion, nothing else and i think i have nothing else to add to it. w/e u do tis fine by me.
 
S

SuperbGameCoder

Guest
Ragarnak said:
And bad things will happen to abusers.
Been using forums for 15 years,had made some but never heard about 'status update' abusing :D lol what is this about
 

Joe Ellis

Member
  • Resurrect or bump very old inactive threads without very good cause.
I never really understood why this is a problem, do you know the actual reason? pure curiosity
@rIKmAN
 

Nocturne

Friendly Tyrant
Forum Staff
Admin
I never really understood why this is a problem, do you know the actual reason? pure curiosity
Common sense... If the topic hasn't been used for over - for example - six months, then the chances are that the OP (original poster) has resolved the problem or moved on. Therefor by bumping the topic you are pushing other, newer, topics down the board and so lowering the chances that they get a reply. Better to help people that need help now than try to help someone that needed help ages ago... ;) Also, if you necro bump a topic because you have the same issue, it's more likely to be ignored, as people see that the topic already has a lot of replies and are more likely to skip it thinking that the OP is already getting help, so you are better to make your own topic.
 

Joe Ellis

Member
Common sense... If the topic hasn't been used for over - for example - six months, then the chances are that the OP (original poster) has resolved the problem or moved on. Therefor by bumping the topic you are pushing other, newer, topics down the board and so lowering the chances that they get a reply. Better to help people that need help now than try to help someone that needed help ages ago... ;) Also, if you necro bump a topic because you have the same issue, it's more likely to be ignored, as people see that the topic already has a lot of replies and are more likely to skip it thinking that the OP is already getting help, so you are better to make your own topic.
Well thanks, that's a great expanation and I completely see the reason, yeah I get it now lol, I really wouldn't have worked that out on my own. (I'm not being sarcastic)
 

TsukaYuriko

☄️
Forum Staff
Moderator
Another reason (at least I see it that way) would be that old topics have a higher chance of revolving around outdated practices which are no longer recommended or even applicable at all. Compared to the old GMC, this is less of an issue on the new GMC, as most topics nowadays at least are about GMS2 instead of 1.x or even older, and the community doesn't have posts dating back half a dozen years (yet)... but I suspect this will return as a bigger issue once the planned GML update hits, as it will once again greatly change the way GMS can and ultimately will be used.

Unrelated to that reason, but especially when coupled with something like what @Nocturne mentioned, where a user resurrects an old topic because they think their issue is similar to the topic author's issue, it can be rather confusing to members, potentially leading them to think the bumper is the topic's author and replying to the author's question instead of the bumper's question. It happens rarely, but when it does happen, it tends to have rather... interesting outcomes.
 
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