Anonymous Reviews in the Archives

[Herculine]

I believe that the comments/voting system in the archives needs a modification that would require a person not only to add two random digits together before entering a comment, but to actually enter either their e-mail address or their forum ID as identification before they would be allowed to vote or comment on a file.

Now, someone is bound to jump in and say: "Herculine, you're just whining because people don't like the maps you've uploaded so far; get over it..." but I assure you that this is not the case. Since I have in fact uploaded files I've been paying much more attention to what people post in the comments section of other files as well.

While many of these comments are valid compliments or criticisms, there are also a large number of comments that are simply trolling and flaming. These comments abound in racial and religious slurs, gender bias and other derogatory comments that are unjustifiable and by no means productive. This sort of thing might have been cool or acceptable decades ago, but I think in this day and age we should all be able to live without that kind of crap. I feel that in these cases if one doesn't have something intelligent to contribute then they should say nothing at all, or in the very least if they're going to insult someone they should at least have the spinal fortitude to back it up with their name. Putting one's money where one's mouth is, if you will.

So, of anyone among the powers-that-be who are capable of making such a change to the archives, I simply ask this: please make it so that votes/comments must be accompanied by some form of identification. I sincerely believe that if such a requirement is put into effect then we all will see a drastic decrease in the cowardly anonymous trolling that seems to plague the archives at the moment.

[40oz]

meh. I wouldn't make a big deal about it. I'm quite content with people being able to say my wads suck without saying why or who they are. It gives them the ability to really say what's on their mind without having to worry about me retaliating about it or creating some kinda flame war and earning a bad reputation. It's also interesting to see how some people perceive me. I know one review of one of my wads said that if I keep mapping at such a high rate I'm gonna end up uploading mounds and mounds of shit wads and turn out like cjwright. I don't agree with this at all but I don't have any obligation to have to prove otherwise. If people are writing hurtful things about you, there must be some kinda reason about it. I'd just ignore it and move on.

[Herculine]

True, anonymity may permit the freedom of blatant honesty, but it also permits stupid crap like this:

"you're a nigger for trying to mock the awesom WoS megawad"

That, I'm sure, we can all live without.

[Maes]

Herculine said:

That, I'm sure, we can all live without.

STFU, nigger.

[40oz]

If that were a review of one of my wads, I honestly wouldn't care. Even if it were a wad that i spent a lot of time and work into. Don't let anon get the best of you. My best suggestion is to continue mapping until you get better at it and you are more likely to get constructive reviews.

[Doom Marine]

Leave my wad alone! You're ruining my life!

[TimeOfDeath]

I'd bet money that Doom Marine is one of the trolls. :P :P :P
How would you feel if DV had 2 and a half stars?

I don't really get why trolls act like that. I don't mind the trolling with bad grammar and profanity on my wads, but if there's something racist or anti-gay, etc., I'd probably report the comment as abuse (at the bottom of every wad page).

[Spleen]

TimeOfDeath said:

How would you feel if DV had 2 and a half stars?

Oh look!

[Sonikku7]

I've actually been wanting to see something like this. It would be nice to see who is actually giving the compliments or criticism for various reviews. (Kinda like /newstuff chronicles) It would also stop most trolls from flaming wads for no reason.

[Sporku]

Anonymity is nice. If people wish to provide their username, they can easily do so by putting it within the review itself. Why put constraints on people? There's a reason the "report review abuse" button exists.

[Herculine]

AgentSpork said:

Anonymity is nice. If people wish to provide their username, they can easily do so by putting it within the review itself. Why put constraints on people? There's a reason the "report review abuse" button exists.

In no way did I mean that I think people should be restricted. I just ask that they take responsibility when they exercise their freedom of speech.

[myk]

I add anonymous or pseudonymous comments myself, more often than not. I wouldn't want that possibility removed just because some people abuse it sometimes. There's a report abuse function to deal with blatant misbehavior. Ten troll attempts aren't worth an intelligent anonymous comment, and most of the former get deleted if reported.

[bimlanders]

Well, so far all of my reviews are anonymously posted, but that's more because my name doesn't carry any weight. I tend to focus on writing something worthwhile and have people focus on what I wrote rather than who wrote it. Hopefully I will release a wad or two of my own before I'm dead. If people want to flame/troll the entry, then so be it. That's the risk you run.

[wildweasel]

One solution: leave the reviews anonymous, but require the reviewer to have a DW forums account to post them (much like with the /newstuff system).

[myk]

There's not much of a difference, as the database admin can see IPs, just like in the forums.

[GreyGhost]

Though it would make a difference if review trolls try to cover their tracks by using anonymous proxies.

[myk]

That applies to troll accounts on the forums as well.

[Kira]

You shouldn't care: read this shit or make something constructive like a new map.

Database comments are only useful, for the wad's creator, to see a general trend in the comments (when they are constructive) and thus are pushing him to improve or adapt his style, but that's all.

There are trolls' comments for Alien Vendetta. Still this gem is as praised as before.

This thread reminds me of Death Destiny, who was a great mapper.

[TendaMonsta]

In my opinion (not that it really matters, but I want to stay on topic for once) if someone were to make a review like "WTF is this you stupid N word" I wouldn't really care (even though I am African American).

Why stoop down to their level and argue because someone said something that inadequate. Ignore them. The only negative criticism that I would really pay attention to would be the reviews explaining why they don't like the wad or what I could improve on. The problem with releasing a wad is that everyone will have a mixed review and say that the ammo placement was bad while another would say that it was good. What I have to say (excuse my language) is FUCK IT. Take some suggestions and in the end have fun and be proud of what you made. This is something you made and you should always feel proud even if the project or level isn't that good. Always keep an open mind and turn the negative comments into something completely positive and retaliate with a better project.

Although some form of Identification would be nice because people could be putting someone's alias instead of theirs...I've seen this before throughout the internet and its really pathetic that you cannot be mature enough and say "yeah this is my review and this is my alias name"

That's all I have to say.

[Reisal]

Don't let it get to you, it's not worth getting up in a tizzy over some comments on a review..I have some myself and I don't care.

[Creaphis]

But then I couldn't write troll reviews of my own maps and come here for sympathy :(

[Snakes]

When it comes to the /idgames database and its reviews, I put only so much weight in them. The trolling doesn't bother me one bit... After all, this is the internet and that's just one of it's little quirks. If it doesn't sit pretty with you, you can report it anyways, if I'm not mistaken. Take it and leave it.

[Maes]

Snakes said:

If it doesn't sit pretty with you, you can report it anyways, if I'm not mistaken. Take it and leave it.

Yeah! That'll teach them trolls!...

[Herculine]

Creaphis said:

But then I couldn't write troll reviews of my own maps and come here for sympathy :(

Hey... that's not a bad idea... :P

[Maes]

Creaphis said:

But then I couldn't write troll reviews of my own maps and come here for sympathy :(

To make a Real Troll Review with Real Ultimate Power, you must make a fucktard-style Youtube video with bad quality, some juvenile random-ass trash metal music, typical Windows Movie Maker "white fonts on blue background" vid and /b/tard-class "spelling" and "grammer" like "OMG u fag0t teh map is sux man youre mom your loser". And don't forget to throw in some random patriotic 9/11 reference, that always gets some extra sympathy.

[Doom Marine]

TimeOfDeath said:

I'd bet money that Doom Marine is one of the trolls. :P :P :P
How would you feel if DV had 2 and a half stars?

I don't really get why trolls act like that. I don't mind the trolling with bad grammar and profanity on my wads, but if there's something racist or anti-gay, etc., I'd probably report the comment as abuse (at the bottom of every wad page).

I wouldn't even give a shit if my work had negative stars, the only approval I seek is from my testing circle; the joke's on everyone else.

[lupinx-Kassman]

Anonymity is fine. If someone makes a comment you believe is stupid, then write it off as a stupid comment and scroll past it.

[PRIMEVAL]

Doom Marine said:

I wouldn't even give a shit if my work had negative stars, the only approval I seek is from my testing circle; the joke's on everyone else.

I so did not read that as "testing circle" at first... o.o

[Herculine]

I get the whole "sticks and stones" philosophy and like everyone else when I was a child Mom told me: "Oh, just don't pay any attention to those mean kids", but my objection really isn't to the comments themselves. As a firm believer in freedom of speech I think people should be allowed to post whatever comment they want, whether I agree with it or not. I'm just saying that people should take responsibility for (if not be held responsible for) their opinions. If they had to identify themselves they'd be far less likely to sound like Nazi KKK members.

[printz]

I think the admins are afraid of an overhead of signed comments.