It doesn't matter if the insult is mild or harsh, the important thing is that if the rules say no direct personal attacks no matter the commenter or the topic then it should be enforcer and everyone warned. I didn't ask for the guy to get warned but a warning was indeed needed and that's mainly what I wanted.
I've been to forums where they are far much strict as to what you can do or say, and people accept it just fine. Some people seem to forget that when you sign up to a forum you first have to accept the terms of service. When you accept it you agree to all of the rules and accept to be disciplined if you break them. Mods and staff members also seem to forget this and either ignore the offending posts or go easy on them.
Both the staff members and the forum members are bound to the rules as mentioned in the ToS. All must follow it. Once this is done everyone gets respect points and the forums have credibility.
I don't appreciate your tone and I find it insulting. Consider yourself reported.
Considering the jokes, comments and arguments I've gotten myself into in the last few years surprised I haven't been reported yet :p .
One thing I wanted to mentioned about Bill's post is the negativity regarding gaming.
Now, this is a problem of the generation, not the site. This generation of gaming has been one of drastic change, and as such people will have an opinion of it and there will be many that will be alienated by it. The people alienated by all of this are young internet viewers who perhaps don't understand what is going on and loudly express it.
This is to be expected as fans can be finicky and have no qualms regarding courtesy or respect. The problem lies when the mods, staff members and journalists of a website act just as bad, if not worse, than the fans. This is an issue because this gives more powers to trollers and use them as a excuse to troll and be angsty.
It may sound like I am silencing the opinion of said people. I'm not. Its just that when you go to every website that has a "OMG Wii sucks" or "OMG the 360 is made of fail" you expect something different, and its annoying when the higher ups are catering to that.
As much as I respect RMC my biggest gripe is that sometimes he keeps going on and on about certain subjects, both good and bad. It gets to the point where he uses any newstory to pop in an opinion or comment, making it look like he is trying hard to get the point across and making fans along the way. Yes, he entitled to his opinion, but when he can't help but make a comment about Sonic in an entry about video footage its like he is fanning the flames and giving fuel to the trolls.
My recommendation to the staff members of NWR about dealing with Nintendo and/or Sony/MS negativity is to try and bring an alternative point of view to the matter and don't just focus on one aspect. Or at least be calm and respectful about it. Don't use every newstory to bring a point across. Don't fan the flames in a heated discussion. If things are getting out of hand, bring out a different opinion or use the ban hammer if needed.
Again, this is hard to do since there's no way to stop how people feel about a company or gaming generation. What can be done is controlled the attitude by pointing out other facts, warning those that want to start trouble and focus on civil discussion.
Lindy: Regarding being a mod, just ban and warn when you or anyone feels something is getting out of hand. Of course the guilty ones will say there's abuse of power and will cry foul, but that's to be expected.
The reality is that the Hawtness Thread DID start as a fun, silly topic. But people pushed it with pornographic content, despite some of it being mild by internet standards. If the rules say that no pornographic imagery is to be posted them you should embrace that and lay down the law.