The impunity of moderators on game hub discussions

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ZIGS 15 Jul @ 9:42pm

A couple of hours ago I made a post in the Destiny 2 discussion hub. Now I discovered that post disappeared. I didn't delete it and the post itself wasn't moderated for being a violation of the rules (as I received no such notification) so the only explanation is that a moderator simply deleted the message.

I can't even appeal it because it's not an official deletion. Someone just didn't like what I had to say and since it doesn't break any rules, they just deleted it. This is the state of the game hubs moderation. They can do anything they want and there's zero accountability. Free speech on Steam is actually an illusion, it has been for some time now.

I would contact Steam support to ask about this but why bother, they'd just give me the usual runaround of "we let developers moderate the discussions as they please and there's nothing we can/will do about it".

When will things change?

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Showing 1-15 of 63 comments

Leonardo Da Pinchi 15 Jul @ 9:52pm

Originally posted by ZIGS:
A couple of hours ago I made a post in the Destiny 2 discussion hub. Now I discovered that post disappeared. I didn't delete it and the post itself wasn't moderated for being a violation of the rules (as I received no such notification) so the only explanation is that a moderator simply deleted the message.

I can't even appeal it because it's not an official deletion. Someone just didn't like what I had to say and since it doesn't break any rules, they just deleted it. This is the state of the game hubs moderation. They can do anything they want and there's zero accountability. Free speech on Steam is actually an illusion, it has been for some time now.

I would contact Steam support to ask about this but why bother, they'd just give me the usual runaround of "we let developers moderate the discussions as they please and there's nothing we can/will do about it".

When will things change?

You don't have free speech in privately owned spaces. Plain and simple.

Hammer Of Evil 15 Jul @ 10:04pm

Originally posted by ZIGS:
When will things change?

it won't change.

a game developer can assign anyone they wish to police their own game hub.

its time the thread creator learned that posting is a privilege, not a right.

ZIGS 15 Jul @ 10:07pm

Originally posted by Leonardo Da Pinchi:
You don't have free speech in privately owned spaces. Plain and simple.

While that's technically true, there's usually a level of restraint to avoid being too obvious. You want the users to think they do have free speech and only curtail it as a last resort, and usually backed by some sort of justification, like some rule you broke (if if those can be complete bull**** sometimes).

Leonardo Da Pinchi 15 Jul @ 10:22pm

Originally posted by ZIGS:
Originally posted by Leonardo Da Pinchi:
You don't have free speech in privately owned spaces. Plain and simple.

While that's technically true, there's usually a level of restraint to avoid being too obvious. You want the users to think they do have free speech and only curtail it as a last resort, and usually backed by some sort of justification, like some rule you broke (if if those can be complete bull**** sometimes).

Here's the thing, it's always been like this. Devs can curate their game hubs how they see fit.

Always have, and likely as long as the forums exist, always will.

Hammer Of Evil 15 Jul @ 10:34pm

Originally posted by itzDerrio:
Originally posted by Hammer Of Evil:

it won't change.

a game developer can assign anyone they wish to police their own game hub.

its time the thread creator learned that posting is a privilege, not a right.

i just looked up the definition of privilege - "Privilege is a special right, advantage, or immunity granted to a particular person or group—often unearned and not available to everyone."

way to contradict yourself in the defense of abusive behavior.

way to misuse a definition to try for a pedantic and desperate W.

but please, explain to me why posting on the forums is your 'right' (a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way.)

not wanting to recognize the truth is an individual problem.

When i publish my games, I will police those forums as i see fit, and people who cause problems can just stay out. and how i elect to define those problematic users is my choice, as it should be.

LoveAndPeace 15 Jul @ 10:37pm

Originally posted by Hammer Of Evil:
Originally posted by itzDerrio:

i just looked up the definition of privilege - "Privilege is a special right, advantage, or immunity granted to a particular person or group—often unearned and not available to everyone."

way to contradict yourself in the defense of abusive behavior.

way to misuse a definition to try for a pedantic and desperate W.

but please, explain to me why posting on the forums is your 'right' (a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way.)

not wanting to recognize the truth is an individual problem.

When i publish my games, I will police those forums as i see fit, and people who cause problems can just stay out. and how i elect to define those problematic users is my choice, as it should be.

yes but at some point you can call anything problematic.
and even abusively use this to your advantage.

a advantage none of us had to start with... why should the dev?

Chaosolous 15 Jul @ 10:37pm

It won't change. Steam's house, Steam's rules. Build your own house if you wanna try your own approach to moderation.

Hammer Of Evil 15 Jul @ 11:00pm

Originally posted by LoveAndPeace:
Originally posted by Hammer Of Evil:

way to misuse a definition to try for a pedantic and desperate W.

but please, explain to me why posting on the forums is your 'right' (a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way.)

not wanting to recognize the truth is an individual problem.

When i publish my games, I will police those forums as i see fit, and people who cause problems can just stay out. and how i elect to define those problematic users is my choice, as it should be.
yes but at some point you can call anything problematic.
and even abusively use this to your advantage.

a advantage none of us had to start with... why should the dev?

EDIT: i see there was no need for me to explain anything. this user is part of the constant part of the userbase that is somehow permanently angry someone else controls the platform.

Usage of the platform is voluntary. so are the forums.

there's no point in asking questions one already well knows the answer to.

Last edited by Hammer Of Evil; 15 Jul @ 11:12pm

SLG 15 Jul @ 11:03pm

There were some maintenance happening today. It could that you exactly did not post it. After you post it, did you see it appear after a while in the topic list?

Last edited by SLG; 15 Jul @ 11:04pm

Tolkien Book Fan 15 Jul @ 11:14pm

Moderators are like security guards: they are accountable to the store owners, not to random people in the store. And the Steam forums are full of angry former customers trying to attack current, paying customers.

#10

Shreddy 16 Jul @ 12:04am

I don’t think things will change so far as letting devs moderate their own forums but what does need to change is said bans contributing towards community wide bans. Customers should never have their account functionality limited because a 3rd party developer banned them for arbitrary reasons that don’t align with steams rules or tos.

#11

Crazy Tiger 16 Jul @ 12:45am

You aren't owed a place for your soap box, it's that simple.

On the forums all of us are just users. Being a "customer" doesn't grant special righs, you know...

#12

whole9yard 16 Jul @ 1:57am

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:
You aren't owed a place for your soap box, it's that simple.

On the forums all of us are just users. Being a "customer" doesn't grant special righs, you know...

That goes both ways, the leftists have a upper hand by their soap box as you say. We all know that the minute right wing content being posted, that content get banned. So in other words steam or in this thread case the devs choose to be on the leftist side and banning anyone on the right just because they don't conform with leftist narratives.

The above is a perfect definition of echo chamber and doesn't provide open discussion within the rules of course.

#13

Chika Ogiue 16 Jul @ 2:14am

Originally posted by whole9yard:
The above is a perfect definition of echo chamber and doesn't provide open discussion within the rules of course.

You aren't guaranteed an "open discussion" though. As long is it is reasonably inline with Valve's guidelines, publishers can set whatever rules and guidelines of their own for their part of Steam. Also keep in mind even Valve's own outsourced moderators delete posts without warnings or notices -- something that, again, you are not promised to be informed of.

#14

whole9yard 16 Jul @ 2:24am

Originally posted by Chika Ogiue:
Originally posted by whole9yard:
The above is a perfect definition of echo chamber and doesn't provide open discussion within the rules of course.

You aren't guaranteed an "open discussion" though. As long is it is reasonably inline with Valve's guidelines, publishers can set whatever rules and guidelines of their own for their part of Steam. Also keep in mind even Valve's own outsourced moderators delete posts without warnings or notices -- something that, again, you are not promised to be informed of.

Exactly, this is how the leftists took advantage of that. A company or in this case devs shouldn't take any political sides. Better yet steam could have disallowed highly inflammatory posts such as gender ideology that it causing a very heated discussion all across different forums. Stuff like that I feel shouldn't be allowed on steam/devs webpages.

Last edited by whole9yard; 16 Jul @ 2:25am

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Date Posted: 15 Jul @ 9:42pm

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