Some mods seam unfriendly and unreasonable

[GenuineCorruption]

Hello all.
I joined this website last night after a close friend of mine had a somewhat upsetting experience. I later went on to have a similar (though admitedly lesser) experience.
I have developed the opinion that the moderators of this site appear to object to topics which express minority views, ideas or suggestions, or otherwise topics which are "outside the box" in any way.
Yesterday, my friend posted a thread in the advance generation topic. I can't post the link, but it's entitled how blind people play pokemon (or something similar). It was basically explaining that in spite of his disability he was able to play and compete in pokemon, though was requesting a little bit more information about the map than what he could get from a traditional walkthrough in order to ade him in traversing the maps. The thread was quickly locked stating it violated some rule; but we reviewed the rules and nothing states that you couldn't post a request for assistance in the advance generation subforum.
In this case, I believe this decision was made strictly based upon this particular mod's personal views on this topic. This person may not be interested in step counting, which is perfectly understandable, but forcing that opinion on the rest of the community by making sure nobody else could respond with offers of help or questions is really unreasonable. This could have become an informative thread about the fact that even someone without sight can still enjoy Pokemon as much as anyone else. Sadly the community was robbed of something that could have been unique and informative.

I later posted a thread in the Black and White section titled "in-game event status resetting", which was a topic about save hacking. It was also removed within ten minutes with a similar response of basically, this doesn't fit anywhere (though admitedly the response I got was somewhat more friendly, mature and intellectual than my friends). You could argue that this should have been posted in emulation (which they said it didn't really fit into anyway), but it's not because it's perfectly possible to use hacked save files on a DS.

I came to this site just thinking, "we can discuss pokemon". You quickly realize that this is actually a place for discussing a very limited selection of hand-picked, very specific aspects of Pokemon.
What's really so bad about a perfectly Pokemon related topic which just defies the status quo a bit? Sure, "Rate my Team", "Dialga or Palkia?" or "X and Y speculations" are all good, but why must we be penalized for posting something unexpected (while still remaining on the topic of the games to which the particular subforum is dedicated to)?
In closing, I hope this doesn't offend anyone, as I sertainly didn't mean to offend anyone. I just wanted to bring these matters to the attention of the community in hopes of resolution, or at least a reasonable explaination of why minority or unprecedented pokemon topics are so Tabu? Where do we benefit from obstructing conversation in this way?

 

[Livewire]

I think I can safely speak for the staff when I say that it is not our intention to come across as unfriendly or indifferent, and that more than likely, this is a misunderstanding or a miscommunication and we'd (the Section moderator & Higher Staff) be happy to amicably work this out with all parties involved.

That being said, in Adv Gen and GPGD, the topic of the thread that was locked is a bit of a grey area, as it's relevance to the forum is kind of ambiguous and it's more about helping the OP with an aspect of the game and not really a discussion about the game itself, it seems. Generally, threads asking for favors, such as the writing of a walk-through and putting it in dropbox isn't the type of thread you'd post in that section. While not a concrete rule, it is an implied one across all the forums, and is kind of like the "Don't ask for ROM's or patches" rule. They don't work in my section either. I can assure you though, that the Moderator there was well within her jurisdiction by locking the thread, as she, more than anyone else, would know what is and isn't appropriate for the forum. (When I saw the thread's content, I thought of the "Let's Play, Guides & Reviews" video game subforum we have, as it's about a guide, basically.) Your friend could also try and ask around the forum via VM or PM for help with the walk through instead, as I don't think that would violate any sort of rule.

Hope this helps.

 

[Atomic Pirate]

I have also had some poor experiences with admins disliking minority opinions. When I was debating with someone over the quality of Generation V Pokemon, Sydian said this heartwarming statement:

I wasn't even talking about you and didn't even read ANY of your posts. Calm your tits. -Sydian

Note that the debate was in fact a heated one and that both me and the guy I was debating were vocally stating our opinions, and yet the guy I was debating didn't get insulted at all. And yet, when I posted this complaint on the official forum, the thread was almost instantly locked. I really think that the admins on this forum shouldn't inappropriately ridicule anyone whose opinions they disagree with, and then turn right around and ban people for saying the exact same thing.

 

[GenuineCorruption]

Hello Livewire,
This is in no way a "miscommunication" or "misunderstanding". This was a request for other likeminded Pokemon fans to partake in a project for the benefit of another community member; as well as a chance to become educated about the fact that people are still capable of living the kind of lives they want regardless of what limitations life might impose upon them.
I am also blind and I have posted similar threads on many sites and have never experienced such irrassional animosity to such topics. In fact, I assisted my friend in composing his message. He did mention that he thought it might be blocked, to which I replied that I'd be shocked in that case for I've been doing this type of thing for 8 years without experiencing anything close to that.
It is a discussion about the game, therefore arguing irrellivence is just that, irrellivent. Furthermore, comparing this to a rom request is invalid as well, as asking for roms in public is not only illegal, but also clearly stated in the community rules. I've been to a great deal of sites which prohibit rom requests, but have no objection to "I'm blind and I'm playing pokemon ---, I'm stuck on X gym, could someone please help me by writing down the number of steps it takes to navigate through it?" That's not truely even a walkthrough (that was probably not the best wording), but rather an accessibility addaptation.
With all that aside, the point remains that the topic was 100 percent rellivent to the game. So was my Black and White topic. Stating that it doesn't fit anywhere suggests this is a site for discussing aspect A, B and C of pokemon but not aspects D through Z. This isn't what the site is advertized to be.
The way we have been treated makes the PayPal button on every page offencive.
BTW, thank you Elgyem. Based on the message which you stated that Sydian posted, she committed an undisputable violation of the community rules herself with regards to respecting other community members. Thanks for your support, I appreciate it.

 

[IStreamSandwich]

I think these posts only end in getting spammed.
If you have a problem with a certain staff member you should take it up with them or report the specific post that you have the problem with instead of trying to devalue the whole of the Staffing Team by publically posting this.

 

[Captain Fabio]

Hello GenuineCorruption,

I am sorry that you and your friend have had some unfortunate experiences with some staff on the site. While this is an issue we need to resolve, may I ask that we continue this discussion over PMs? I believe that this type of matter is best dealt with in private, as we don't want to start any nasty conversations going and, possibly, have people join in.

I will PM you this second, but for now, I am going to close this.

Also, for anyone who EVER feels like they have been hard done by or are offended by a member/staff action/post/whatever, you are welcome to contact a Higher Member of Staff, who are in Orange and Red colours.

Thank you to everyone who posted and I hope we can resolve this issue.

*Closed*​

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