I just registered my Beta key but when I login to the official forums the only section I can see is the Announcement.

Are the official Forums up or are they down at the moment until the BWE starts?

Down until the BWE starts.  They've only been turning on the forums while there is an event or stress test underway.  If its like last time, they will leave the forum open for a day or two after the weekend ends so you have more time to post your thoughts...

The only part of the forums thats up are the announcements.  And they are read only

Originally posted by Smithy021
Really Wish we hand official forums all the time. Would help to bring all parts of the community together!

I would rather them get a good permanent crew together to make sure it isnt bad. I have reservations on whether they can keep the a$$hats out.

Originally posted by ariboersma

Originally posted by Smithy021
Really Wish we hand official forums all the time. Would help to bring all parts of the community together!

I would rather them get a good permanent crew together to make sure it isnt bad. I have reservations on whether they can keep the a$$hats out.

Noboddy can...

Originally posted by cattywhompus

Down until the BWE starts.  They've only been turning on the forums while there is an event or stress test underway.  If its like last time, they will leave the forum open for a day or two after the weekend ends so you have more time to post your thoughts...

Last time (stress test) they closed the forums the exact same moment they pulled the servers down and they've been closed ever since. And IIRC the forums after BWE#1 was left open for a few days as read-only.

Originally posted by ariboersma

Originally posted by Smithy021
Really Wish we hand official forums all the time. Would help to bring all parts of the community together!

I would rather them get a good permanent crew together to make sure it isnt bad. I have reservations on whether they can keep the a$$hats out.

I'm not sure why the trend for official MMO forums is to have light moderation with no posting restrictions and subsequently have the devs turn a deaf ear to the majority of the posts because there's so much garbage to wade through.  I would gladly welcome heavily moderated forums with strict posting restrictions (posts per day, new threads per day, etc) if it meant the devs interacted with us on a regular basis.  If people couldn't just post whatever they wanted whenever they wanted and actually made their posts count (no trolling, constructive criticism, etc) maybe the devs would take a lot more interest and we wouldn't have a cess pool like we typically get.

Originally posted by Sixpax

Originally posted by ariboersma

Originally posted by Smithy021
Really Wish we hand official forums all the time. Would help to bring all parts of the community together!

I would rather them get a good permanent crew together to make sure it isnt bad. I have reservations on whether they can keep the a$$hats out.

I'm not sure why the trend for official MMO forums is to have light moderation with no posting restrictions and subsequently have the devs turn a deaf ear to the majority of the posts because there's so much garbage to wade through.  I would gladly welcome heavily moderated forums with strict posting restrictions (posts per day, new threads per day, etc) if it meant the devs interacted with us on a regular basis.  If people couldn't just post whatever they wanted whenever they wanted and actually made their posts count (no trolling, constructive criticism, etc) maybe the devs would take a lot more interest and we wouldn't have a cess pool like we typically get.

They have announced they are going to have heavily moderated 'official' forums. They just aren't leaving them up for the public until launch. They're doing what they can to limit the amount of troll posts & such, so their staff can focus on more important things.

If you haven't looked at the forums before, there is already a ton of feedback, and the devs actively participate in the official forums throughout the BWE. I'm sure some people will criticize them for it (because heavy moderation = censorship), but they will be more in line with what you are asking. I wouldn't worry about dev interaction with the players. Anet has already shown they are actively engaged with their fanbase on a lvl we don't really see with other developers.

the devs would spend all their time on the forums and never finish the game if they had all of us in one place

Originally posted by aesperus

because heavy moderation = censorship)

Not at all, you wouldn't go to your favourite sports team's rival ground wearing your sports team colours, wading into the home supporters letting them know just how much they suck.  You'll be asked to leave for your own safety or stamped to death, either way it's far from acceptable.

When you log onto ArenaNet's servers and start belittling ArenaNet and it's supporters blatently causing trouble why is it any different?

Originally posted by Meyithi

Originally posted by aesperus

because heavy moderation = censorship)

Not at all, you wouldn't go to your favourite sports team's rival ground wearing your sports team colours, wading into the home supporters letting them know just how much they suck.  You'll be asked to leave for your own safety or stamped to death, either way it's far from acceptable.

When you log onto ArenaNet's servers and start belittling ArenaNet and it's supporters blatently causing trouble why is it any different?

Really? You're going to gut my entire post, pick out one fraction of a sentence, and pretend that it was the point of my entire post? Please don't put words in my mouth, that has nothing to do w/ what I was saying.

The small part of my post you chose to quote (and it is a very small part of my original post) was merely stating that people will still complain about heavily moderated official forums, because there will always be some people who will view it as (heavy moderation = censorship). It's already happened pleanty of times with other games, and there is no reason to believe it will be different with this one. There will always be the troll / flamebaiter / hater who posts crap and then plays the victim because they got banned.

Originally posted by aesperus

Originally posted by Sixpax

Originally posted by ariboersma

Originally posted by Smithy021
Really Wish we hand official forums all the time. Would help to bring all parts of the community together!

I would rather them get a good permanent crew together to make sure it isnt bad. I have reservations on whether they can keep the a$$hats out.

I'm not sure why the trend for official MMO forums is to have light moderation with no posting restrictions and subsequently have the devs turn a deaf ear to the majority of the posts because there's so much garbage to wade through.  I would gladly welcome heavily moderated forums with strict posting restrictions (posts per day, new threads per day, etc) if it meant the devs interacted with us on a regular basis.  If people couldn't just post whatever they wanted whenever they wanted and actually made their posts count (no trolling, constructive criticism, etc) maybe the devs would take a lot more interest and we wouldn't have a cess pool like we typically get.

They have announced they are going to have heavily moderated 'official' forums. They just aren't leaving them up for the public until launch. They're doing what they can to limit the amount of troll posts & such, so their staff can focus on more important things.

If you haven't looked at the forums before, there is already a ton of feedback, and the devs actively participate in the official forums throughout the BWE. I'm sure some people will criticize them for it (because heavy moderation = censorship), but they will be more in line with what you are asking. I wouldn't worry about dev interaction with the players. Anet has already shown they are actively engaged with their fanbase on a lvl we don't really see with other developers.

Yes I read the "official" forums during the first BWE, and it wasn't so much the content of the posts (although I'd be more strict than they were) but the sheer number of posts.  New threads would drop to the 2nd and 3rd page of the section within a short time.  I seriously doubt the devs read every thread... they just don't have the manpower for that.  So in addition to heavy moderation, they should also implement daily restrictions on number of posts/threads.  That way people won't be so inclined to make unnecessary posts (like just saying "QFT" and crap like that).

Originally posted by Sixpax

Originally posted by ariboersma

Originally posted by Smithy021
Really Wish we hand official forums all the time. Would help to bring all parts of the community together!

I would rather them get a good permanent crew together to make sure it isnt bad. I have reservations on whether they can keep the a$$hats out.

I'm not sure why the trend for official MMO forums is to have light moderation with no posting restrictions and subsequently have the devs turn a deaf ear to the majority of the posts because there's so much garbage to wade through.  I would gladly welcome heavily moderated forums with strict posting restrictions (posts per day, new threads per day, etc) if it meant the devs interacted with us on a regular basis.  If people couldn't just post whatever they wanted whenever they wanted and actually made their posts count (no trolling, constructive criticism, etc) maybe the devs would take a lot more interest and we wouldn't have a cess pool like we typically get.

In GW1, A.Net did not have their own forums so, they did follow the fan forums and they participated also. I expect the same this time.

Originally posted by semantikron

the devs would spend all their time on the forums and never finish the game if they had all of us in one place

Uh oh! Close the forums now!

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

Originally posted by ariboersma

Originally posted by Smithy021
Really Wish we hand official forums all the time. Would help to bring all parts of the community together!

I would rather them get a good permanent crew together to make sure it isnt bad. I have reservations on whether they can keep the a$$hats out.

Noboddy can...

what about clearing out forum posts/threads that are more than X days old?  Not including stickies.

Limiting posts per person per day would do many good things for forums.  But perhaps have an additional "coffee house" subforum where you could post unlimited amounts but not expect too much Dev attention.

If they limited each player to 10 posts per day, you'd really want to think about whether your commend was worth posting or not.

Originally posted by Fusion

Originally posted by cattywhompus

Down until the BWE starts.  They've only been turning on the forums while there is an event or stress test underway.  If its like last time, they will leave the forum open for a day or two after the weekend ends so you have more time to post your thoughts...

 

Last time (stress test) they closed the forums the exact same moment they pulled the servers down and they've been closed ever since. And IIRC the forums after BWE#1 was left open for a few days as read-only.

After BWE1, they did give us maybe a day after the servers closed to finish up out comments. I remember adding feedback Monday Afternoon. They close them down fairly quickly though, so they can sort and digest the feedback. I assume it will be the same this time, so if you don't take time to make feedback during the event, definitely get in your comments the following afternoon.