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Thanks for all the very nice comments here! I can't reply to them all individually because there are so many but it's heart-warming to see and I'm very grateful.

Some of the speculation is a little out-there but I guess that's to be expected. 

Small update to the anti-spam rules, changing this:

• “Meme” images — especially when not accompanied by text

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to this:

• Excessive “Meme” images — especially when not accompanied by text

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We have decided that the old rule gave the impression no memes are allowed whatsoever. This would be a slightly archaic approach and in any case, it isn't the way the rule has actually been enforced for some time.

Meme away but please do so in moderation, folks. Cheers.

Viking Conquest 2.032 is now available for you all to enjoy! If you have the game on Steam or GOG then you should automatically receive this update, but for those of you who don’t then you can visit our Viking Conquest Reforged Edition download page to pillage the latest version.

Sorry for the wait!

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Bottom row, third from the left. Use this to cross-reference: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/AnatolianRaiders

https://www.mbrepository.com/file.php?id=3290

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Needs a DDS reader to open

22nd

Hey,

Just checking in to confirm that the servers have now been reset and we're looking into setting up a regular reset, to potentially avoid issues like this in future!

Thanks Nemo and all. Happy Blading!

Frank

Hi all!

Took much longer to reply to this than I had hoped. That's the result of moving house and it being the week before E3.

It would be a little ridiculous to reply to individual quotes here after so many pages, so I'll just try and reply to cover what I think are the key points, and offer some more clarification.



My role
It's understandable that a lot of people here are surprised to see me interact with forum moderation at all. The reality is that I am very involved with the moderation team and am typically called upon to set guidelines and establish precedents where they are missing.

I'm pleased that most consider the forum moderation team to be doing a fine job on the whole and I'm very much in agreement!

While I'm not looking for credit, I do sometimes forget to do my own PR and it's only my fault that my role is called into question because I don't often do a good enough job of showing what I do! Somebody dug up a post I made a long time ago that explains a lot of what I do, although I occupy a very broad role in the company which often changes depending on our focus or requirements at any given time. I'll keep thinking about a good remedy for the information deficiency there.

In the meantime, I think we're moving in the right direction as a company and I'm very happy that Callum has joined us to help fill in where I can't always!



Talking nice / PR talk
I'm a little confused at why people are bothered by me being nice or polite. If it seems disingenuous, or too cut-and-paste, then I'm sorry.

However, I don't know most of the people posting here personally and I genuinely don't take personal offence at this type of talk or behaviour. Whether you like it or not, I will be nice and polite because the alternative is not likely to help anyone and certainly won't make the forums a better place.

What I can understand is people feeling as though the niceness is intended to disguise some kind of horrible action. A lot of people have accused me of making threats but honestly, it's a little ridiculous when this "threat" is just me informing people that breaking the forum rules has consequences. It's a very basic fact of the forums and something that should be well known by veterans of the community! As long as the information is clear (and I hope it has been but I am happy to continue offering clarification) then I don't see any reason to communicate it unpleasantly.



Forum standards / conduct
Some people have already pointed out that I have left plenty of criticism of myself in this thread.

At this point, I'd also like to thank everyone for contributing. Even if I don't agree with everything said and despite a lot of it being negative feedback directed at me, I'm glad that the manner in which it was written has been of a decent standard.

This does lead me to believe that everyone pretty much knows how to post on the forums. The post that was removed was, in my view, significantly worse than anything else in the last 5 pages and doesn't have a place on this forums. And not just for posts directed at me, but anyone - and by the same token I'm not willing to put up with bile publicly, just because of my position. That's not a part of my job and I want to make it absolutely clear that it should not be considered standard or acceptable behaviour. Again: not directed at me, not directed at anyone.

On top of that, the user was actively disregarding direct instructions to change their avatar. When any member of the forum team gives a clear instruction, it must be followed. Questions can always be asked later and that's why we have this thread, PMs, an official email etc.



Avatars
In relation to the avatars, we have this rule:

Avatars and signatures
No deliberately offensive signatures or profile pictures are allowed. This includes, but is not limited to, pictures of members of the Nazi party, symbols of racist groups or nudity. Signatures must abide by the size rules specified on the 'Forum Profile' page of your account — that is, they should be no larger than 200 pixels high, including all images and text. Moderators and Administrators may choose, without due warning, to alter your account as they see fit and further actions may be taken depending on the content.

Both avatars and signatures must adhere to a "safe for work" minimum standard, which means sexualised/provocative or inflammatory images are forbidden. Remember; your avatar and signature are the first and last things anybody sees of your posts, and images or slogans which marginalise any group of people are not conducive to a welcoming environment.

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I've highlighted, in bold, the part which is particularly relevant. Plants shaped as genitals is not an acceptable image for people to find when they come to visit this forum. There are, of course, plenty of other things on the forum I'd rather people not see when visiting - the last few pages of this thread included!

However, that is why we have our rules and set what I consider to be reasonable limits. The nature of avatars, as stated by the rule, means they are particularly high visibility and subject to higher standards. I consider the images used to be sexualised/provocative. It's obviously ridiculous to descend to the point where our moderation staff is forced to determine what plant looks like what part of the human anatomy and make a judgement of that level. If issues of this sort prove to be a massive waste of moderator time, I will support the moderation team in finding a more efficient ways to deal with them.



Sex thread
I thought the rule was pretty clear in itself when I posted it but I'm happy to provide some extra explanation.

No porn, links to porn sites or anything similar
The members of this board range from pre-teens to retirees. We don't want to offend or corrupt anyone. Again, breaking this rule can lead to a permanent ban without warning.

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The relevant part is in the body of the rule, rather than the header. I've highlighted it for clarity.

What I often use as a benchmark is what I consider the reaction of a parent would be to their 12 year old child being exposed to any given thread / image / post on the forum. The sex thread fell well short of that.

You might argue there are other parts of the forum that would fall short of that benchmark as well. You may well be right and that's a situation I hope to improve upon in future.

Well it seems like we have very different opinions regarding post deletion.

The forum rules state clearly:

Purchasing a licence does not confer any right of access to these boards, you have no right of free speech or anything of the sort.

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I don't see a reason anyone should have to tolerate posts that are not respectful, and fail to comply to basic decency standards. If the post isn't fit for the forums, I don't see that it helps anyone for it to be left on the forums. The point of the rules is to improve the overall quality of posting - not just to punish those who fail to comply with them.

Having said that, I agree that a unified approach is possibly lacking in this regard. That's something we can definitely improve upon and I'm happy to take responsibility for any confusion caused!

When I say his post had valid points, I mean points that could be worth a response should they have been better phrased. That doesn't negate the above however and the points were not so important or useful that they demanded an urgent response. If you'd like them to be addressed, your best bet would be to send him a nice PM asking him to be more polite!

Evvv said:

While we've got you here, can you explain what happened with the silent deletion of the sex thread? The threads that were used as literal porn dumps were understandable, but a thread for adults to talk about it away from everything else could hardly be seen as a bad thing when that level of conversation exists elsewhere outside of a vacuum anyways.

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This is the section of the rules that I consider relevant:

No porn, links to porn sites or anything similar
The members of this board range from pre-teens to retirees. We don't want to offend or corrupt anyone. Again, breaking this rule can lead to a permanent ban without warning.

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Well considering my PM was selectively quoted, which is treading close to a breach of forum rules in itself, here is the full version for transparency:

Frank_TaleWorlds said:

The forum obviously means a lot to you and I'm very happy for you to voice your opinion. If you feel like it's being ignored in the forum moderation feedback thread, let me personally extend you an invitation to send me a PM, and I'll be happy to escalate the issue.

As someone who has used the forum for many years, your opinion is absolutely valuable.

However, the way you've gone about expressing yourself in relation this issue is unacceptable and it will be dealt with. I'm a reasonable person and I don't think it's too much to ask that people, who want their say in running of the forums, act reasonably as well.

In the meantime, I'd recommend removing that post and changing your avatar ASAP.

Frank

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Essentially all that does is reinforce what I already made clear in the thread.

If you want to call informing someone that breaking the rules will result in consequences a threat, I sort of agree with you. But it's no more of a threat than any system with rules and punishments inherently possesses. That constitutes a lengthy and irrelevant discussion though!

I won't reply to the rest of your post since I feel I have adequately covered everything else already.

Cheers

Hey!

When the posts here create an environment where it isn't possible for criticism to be voiced calmly and respectfully, the thread can't serve its purpose! That's when I consider it necessary to remove posts.

Amontadillo? said:

I'm talking about arc's first post. It wasn't the most kindly worded, but it was in no way abusive (neither to yourself nor other staff) and I strongly challenge your assertion that it was. The worst thing that was directed at anyone was "grow up". Come on, now.

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That's not strictly true. I'm not sure if you have it on record but looking back at the post, I can see there are some valid points in there. On the whole, it's not written in a remotely constructive manner though and it's not a helpful contribution to this thread that will be missed.

Should they desire, I'd be happy to sent the deleted post to the user via PM, so that they may reword it and post it again when they get the chance.



I think the moderation team do an excellent job in general and feel that they are more than understanding of posts here. That feedback is also relayed, even if it's indirect and issues are brought to my attention when they deem it is required. That process already exists and my belief is that it works well for the most part. My PMs are always open if you feel that something requires escalation.

As for my name, well I've only ever had one complaint about it that I can remember but I've been considering changing it for a while. There you go.

(I'll get to my other accounts when I have time)

Criticism is not only acceptable but important to keep the forum running in check. When it comes in the form of abuse directed at myself and / or other forum staff, it no longer provides that benefit and has to be dealt with.

All users here were politely asked to change their avatars. When several users decided to both ignore that request and continue posting abusively, then it required a response. I'm happy for discussion to continue as long as it is both calm and respectful! I think that's reasonable enough.

TheFlyingFishy said:

Literally why are you doing this?

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Since I had originally requested the removal of the avatar, I decided to spend a few minutes writing a post to explain the decision when it was questioned.

Hey all,

Deleted posts are deleted for a reason, so I've gone ahead and removed the quotes as well. Even forum feedback has to be provided in a way that respects both forum rules and the instructions given by forum staff, which includes me.

Cheers

Hi all,

It's pretty obvious why the avatar wasn't acceptable, and I don't think anyone needs me to explain why that's not an image we're happy for users to be greeted with when they come to our forums.

Anyone else who has deliberately disregarded this will be dealt with by the forum moderation team today unless they rectify their profiles ASAP.

If representing yourself as genitalia is that important to you, there are plenty of places on the internet to facilitate that but this is not one of them!

Rulebreaks and unacceptable behaviour on the forum do not justify further disregard of the rules and basic standards we look to maintain. If you are concerned about certain forum activity, there are better ways to go about lobbying for change.

Cheers,

Frank