Originally posted by elliottalb

Very well said. The part that really bothers me is that I was banned for a full month simply for mentioning the word SOPA. I've never even heard of a troll recieving that kind of ban.

It is very clear to me this was intentional and not simply regular enforcement of forum rules.

Why do I feel there is a lot more to this story that isnt being told

Originally posted by SanHor

I've seen some interesting discussions that were closed down with everyone being pointed to that one thread where you could state your concerns. Their forum is the last place to check opinions right now.

This is standard though.  Rift does this too, but it varies week by week how much of it they do.

Originally posted by toddze

Originally posted by elliottalb

I thought the game was great but I just couldn't deal with the crazy amount of censorship they practice on the forums and in game any longer. It got to be completly and utterly rediculous.

I'm not a fan of any kind of censorship even if it is their site. I'd rather just not play the game at all than condone censorship with my continued subscription. I realize I shouldn't be so bothered by it because it is their site but I just couldn't help it. It seriously bugged me so much that I couldn't continue to support EA/Bioware.

Did anyone else feel this way or even go so far as to unsub because of it like I did?

I agree with you to a certian extent. You should be able to discuss anything game related. But most companies try to avoid the negatives because it hurts their wallets. EA is one of the biggest censors to this date.

Funny thing is that stuff like this always leaks out anyways.. The more you try and hide something the more people digg for the truth...

No you wont fool the childrean of the Revolution.. no you wont fool... enough said...

Censorship hurts you as much, if not even more then just leaving the so called " Bad posts alone".....

Originally posted by Worstluck Now...the worst forums I have ever encountered are the Steam forums.  The moderation over there is quite insane.  I have personally never gotten in trouble over there (don't post much), but I have a friend who was recently lifetime banned for typing the word torrent.  He wasn't saying to download something illegally, was actually commenting on someone who he thought torrented a game.  It's pretty ridiculous.

Same here.

My first ban was handed down because A poster that was very helpful in a game forum showing players how to better run a game. He was accused (rightly it turns out) of torrenting the game. I came on to state that it doesn't matter how he got the game the help is still valid. I got perma-banned for "advocating piracy". Of course I DO advocate file-sharing. We all should.

The second ban was SOPA-related and i got into a heated debate with some corporate shill and admited that this was my second forum account. Bam perma-banned again.

The moral of the story is that $team has so far lost almost $200 of sales from this "pirate". I will never buy a game from $team again. So GG and i hope they choke on a piece of SOPA!

Originally posted by pierth

I love that the OP came to these forums to discuss it- (incoming horrible analogy) it'd be like escaping to North Korea to flee oppression in China.

This my friend is genuinely funny.

Originally posted by Socman75

Originally posted by pierth

I love that the OP came to these forums to discuss it- (incoming horrible analogy) it'd be like escaping to North Korea to flee oppression in China.

This my friend is genuinely funny.

LOL... so true

Originally posted by bartoni33

Originally posted by Worstluck Now...the worst forums I have ever encountered are the Steam forums.  The moderation over there is quite insane.  I have personally never gotten in trouble over there (don't post much), but I have a friend who was recently lifetime banned for typing the word torrent.  He wasn't saying to download something illegally, was actually commenting on someone who he thought torrented a game.  It's pretty ridiculous.

Same here.

My first ban was handed down because A poster that was very helpful in a game forum showing players how to better run a game. He was accused (rightly it turns out) of torrenting the game. I came on to state that it doesn't matter how he got the game the help is still valid. I got perma-banned for "advocating piracy". Of course I DO advocate file-sharing. We all should.

The second ban was SOPA-related and i got into a heated debate with some corporate shill and admited that this was my second forum account. Bam perma-banned again.

The moral of the story is that $team has so far lost almost $200 of sales from this "pirate". I will never buy a game from $team again. So GG and i hope they choke on a piece of SOPA!

Very well put. QTF.

Same concept as dictator need to suppress it's people. And to think that player in the state would appreciate the value of freedom. Kudos for continuing support for censorship

good laughs from this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9C9OKMyZng

Originally posted by StarI

Originally posted by elliottalb

People should put this thread in their sigs for the SWTOR forums so we can try to gather some more info on this and make people aware of what's going on. We'll be the underground resistance on the SWTOR forums :)

I'm down for a bit of covert gamer activism. If you're going to do it be sneaky though. EA doesn't mess around from what I'm reading.

You're in for a surprise if you think these forums are not censored.

after the ToR beta  nda lifted i posted some major concerns about the game and the way marketing was handled here and got a nice perma ban on my 8 year account even though i posted maturely and not really agressively....i guess if you mess with the affiliate $$$$$ from percentage cuts  from linked box sales you WILL be censored.

Before release TOR was the holy grail (because it meant extra revenue for advertisers) now it is not so important

Originally posted by orgash

Originally posted by StarI

Originally posted by elliottalb

People should put this thread in their sigs for the SWTOR forums so we can try to gather some more info on this and make people aware of what's going on. We'll be the underground resistance on the SWTOR forums :)

I'm down for a bit of covert gamer activism. If you're going to do it be sneaky though. EA doesn't mess around from what I'm reading.

You're in for a surprise if you think these forums are not censored.

after the ToR beta  nda lifted i posted some major concerns about the game and the way marketing was handled here and got a nice perma ban on my 8 year account even though i posted maturely and not really agressively....i guess if you mess with the affiliate $$$$$ from percentage cuts  from linked box sales you WILL be censored.

Before release TOR was the holy grail (because it meant extra revenue for advertisers) now it is not so important

Sigh... Are there any sites out there aside from 4chan and reddit that do not use such aggressive censorship methods? Is there a site with a descent forum on the web that you can post on without fear of being censored?

Or do we need to make one?

Originally posted by elliottalb

I thought the game was great but I just couldn't deal with the crazy amount of censorship they practice on the forums and in game any longer. It got to be completly and utterly rediculous.

I'm not a fan of any kind of censorship even if it is their site. I'd rather just not play the game at all than condone censorship with my continued subscription. I realize I shouldn't be so bothered by it because it is their site but I just couldn't help it. It seriously bugged me so much that I couldn't continue to support EA/Bioware.

Did anyone else feel this way or even go so far as to unsub because of it like I did?

Hi, i feel the same way about censorship, i dislike the fact, that they force their paying customers to shut up.

Why wouldnt any company want to know what their customers think about their product?

I hear daily of people getting their post deleted and then a warning is in their forum mail box... also people getting their SIG's removed cause they contain drawings or photos ect.. the mods do not like.

Im a huge fan of playing a star wars game & i also played the old SWG, but, this really gives me truble sleeping and i constantly think about "what if im banned tomorrow when i come home from work.."

It's almost like a psychological terro they use, im thinking Hard about unsub on SWTOR, cause this isnt what i had so many high hopes for.

But, then there are friends, then i cant play with them in it...

It's kinda sad, i played so many games since 1997 and i have Never had this feeling about any other games before.

I don't think the problem is the censorship. The problem is people who CAN"T read.

The forum is suppose to be "positive/negative CONSTRUCTIVE feedbak related to SWTOR"

Guess what people posted ? The usual crap. 

They have every right to lock/delete those threads that do not fit into those description.

Rules are set for a reason. Follow it and they won't lock/delete threads.

There are plenty of negative threads but WITH constructive feedback and those are not censored or deleted.

Originally posted by zakiyawow

I don't think the problem is the censorship. The problem is people who CAN"T read.

The forum is suppose to be "positive/negative CONSTRUCTIVE feedbak related to SWTOR"

Guess what people posted ? The usual crap. 

They have every right to lock/delete those threads that do not fit into those description.

Rules are set for a reason. Follow it and they won't lock/delete threads.

There are plenty of negative threads but WITH constructive feedback and those are not censored or deleted.

Im sorry, but, that is so not true, i seen and i did read many threads that did have 100% constructive feedback & they still got deleted!

Also, like someone else did say, there was a thread about SOPA and guess what, it got removed very fast and no, it wasnt the usual troll crap!

Sure there are threads now atm on swtor forum with constructive feedback, but, do you think those threads will still be there when they reach 100+ pages?

I dont think so. Last time there was one, it got closed temporary and was opened later on when the thread was down to 30 pages...

Thats about 70 pages that got deleted, now explain that?!

No, there wasnt so many trolls in that thread... lol

In my opinion there is a very simple rule of thumb for forum use.

"It's not what you say, but the way that you say it!"

Criticism has an essential role to play in the post-launch development of any title, but how you word your displeasure or articulate your arguments must be done in a sensible way, if you blundering about throwing invectives & vitriol around like they were cherry blossom petals in Springime you are going to draw the wrong kind of attention.

The worst part?

It''s not that you'll get your post removed, or even a warning, or even a ban......it's that your poor choice of words will negate your voice, remove your freedom of speech & leave you isolated & ignored.

The most lethal venom is one which is meticulously researched, carefully prepared & delivered with a great amount of circumspection, that sublety is an art, as is the written word when used well.

You don't need to be Shakespeare, but the literary equivalent of vandalism isn't going to get you far.

Originally posted by Darkmysto

Originally posted by zakiyawow

I don't think the problem is the censorship. The problem is people who CAN"T read.

The forum is suppose to be "positive/negative CONSTRUCTIVE feedbak related to SWTOR"

Guess what people posted ? The usual crap. 

They have every right to lock/delete those threads that do not fit into those description.

Rules are set for a reason. Follow it and they won't lock/delete threads.

There are plenty of negative threads but WITH constructive feedback and those are not censored or deleted.

Im sorry, but, that is so not true, i seen and i did read many threads that did have 100% constructive feedback & they still got deleted!

Also, like someone else did say, there was a thread about SOPA and guess what, it got removed very fast and no, it wasnt the usual troll crap!

Sure there are threads now atm on swtor forum with constructive feedback, but, do you think those threads will still be there when they reach 100+ pages?

I dont think so. Last time there was one, it got closed temporary and was opened later on when the thread was down to 30 pages...

Thats about 70 pages that got deleted, now explain that?!

No, there wasnt so many trolls in that thread... lol

Unless you can post a particular thread, I can't commend on it.

How is SOPA related to SWTOR game play ? do explain that one for me.

Originally posted by Skuz

In my opinion there is a very simple rule of thumb for forum use.

 

"It's not what you say, but the way that you say it!"

 

Criticism has an essential role to play in the post-launch development of any title, but how you word your displeasure or articulate your arguments must be done in a sensible way, if you blundering about throwing invectives & vitriol around like they were cherry blossom petals in Springime you are going to draw the wrong kind of attention.

The worst part?

It''s not that you'll get your post removed, or even a warning, or even a ban......it's that your poor choice of words will negate your voice, remove your freedom of speech & leave you isolated & ignored.

The most lethal venom is one which is meticulously researched, carefully prepared & delivered with a great amount of circumspection, that sublety is an art, as is the written word when used well.

You don't need to be Shakespeare, but the literary equivalent of vandalism isn't going to get you far.

How very true. It is the same on MMORPG.com. Follow the rules and you are generally fine. 

People seem to think they can say what they want disregard what the rules lay out to be. 

The funniest one is quoting freedom of speech. ( really ? most people don't even know what that covers ) 

Originally posted by Chivalry1978

While I like the game I hate Ea....call it disgrunteled employee. EA Supoorts SOPA...enough said.

 

No, actually they dont.

Originally posted by zakiyawow

Originally posted by Darkmysto

Originally posted by zakiyawow

I don't think the problem is the censorship. The problem is people who CAN"T read.

The forum is suppose to be "positive/negative CONSTRUCTIVE feedbak related to SWTOR"

Guess what people posted ? The usual crap. 

They have every right to lock/delete those threads that do not fit into those description.

Rules are set for a reason. Follow it and they won't lock/delete threads.

There are plenty of negative threads but WITH constructive feedback and those are not censored or deleted.

Im sorry, but, that is so not true, i seen and i did read many threads that did have 100% constructive feedback & they still got deleted!

Also, like someone else did say, there was a thread about SOPA and guess what, it got removed very fast and no, it wasnt the usual troll crap!

Sure there are threads now atm on swtor forum with constructive feedback, but, do you think those threads will still be there when they reach 100+ pages?

I dont think so. Last time there was one, it got closed temporary and was opened later on when the thread was down to 30 pages...

Thats about 70 pages that got deleted, now explain that?!

No, there wasnt so many trolls in that thread... lol

Unless you can post a particular thread, I can't commend on it.

How is SOPA related to SWTOR game play ? do explain that one for me.

First, it's a bit hard, don't you think? Since they already used the censorship...

Second, people were saying that their censorship was like SOPA and that's why it was named in swtor forum.

I like to ask you one thing, do you blindly love what ever they do on swtor forum? So no matter what people say here or there, you will always try to make them feel bad for saying what they think and feel?

No? then say something you dont like about swtor & their censorship, cause this is a thread about that you know.

Originally posted by warmaster670

Originally posted by Chivalry1978

While I like the game I hate Ea....call it disgrunteled employee. EA Supoorts SOPA...enough said.

 

No, actually they dont.

The problem is, having a neutral stance while still being in group that supports it, is just a cowardly method to cover their bases in case SOPA backfires; that way they can say "we never supported it", when they are in fact giving their support in practice. It is a great plan for any media company that wants SOPA to happen, but still wants have an insurance in case of failure; EA is proving to be great businessmen again.