Kind of a long post here.  If you want to get to the meat of it then read the points in bold further below.

I find it ironic that following the love-fest of the Thanksgiving thread there has been an inordinate amount of bickering and complaining around here lately.  There was trolling and spamming in the past but seeing regular members acting so discontent is far more distressing to me than that.

A certain few people seem to take pleasure in making snide remarks wherever the opportunity exists and they need to chill with that.  That especially goes for swipes directed at individual forum members but also the sort of generally aggressive language I've seen too much of here lately.  Is it really necessary to go for the throat when a simple, well-spoken but considerate dissent will suffice?  I find it hard to believe that those same people go about daily life towards people they meet face to face with the same brazen behavior.

On the flip side, just because somebody disagrees with you is not a reason to feel offended or act defensive.  Nor is it a reason to argue ad nauseum.  Make your case then let it go.

If your post is along the lines of "This sucks" [end of post] then just don't post it.  That sort of post seems more meant to rile people up than to discuss anything.  Negative opinions are perfectly fine but in those cases especially you're under some obligation to at least in some manner make your case.

That said, claims about how everybody hates everything on these forums are greatly overstated   People do seem to be harsher critics about things here, but I find it refreshing to read honest, uninhibited opinions that are probably more grounded than those you would hear from a critic.  So what if a game hasn't been release yet or people have only heard a sample from a CD?  If the company releases even a sample to the public then it's game for discussion so let 'em at it!

Nice long rant there, here's in short what it means I intend to do as it regards to administrating the forums:

-Posts that are unnecessarily harsh or aggressive towards other forum members will be edited or deleted.

-Posts that incite or continue a personal dispute will be edited or deleted.  Handle it privately over e-mail.

-Posts that simply say "This sucks" or are meant purely as bitter sarcasm without contributing to the discussion will be deleted.

-Posts that whine about general forum behavior will be edited or deleted.  If you want to complain feel free to do so in this thread or mail me directly.

What it all boils down to I think is that some people in spending a lot of time here and becoming comfortable have become too self-centered.  This is still a public forum, and no matter how long you may have been here or how often you may have posted, the forums do not revolve around you, so if the post you're making is not going to benefit the forum community or at least make for enjoyable or productive conversation then don't post it.

Please keep in mind that a lot of people read these forums other than the one or two dozen regular posters.  When I go to a new forum and see the sort of personal bickering and general whining that has gone on here lately it makes me much less inclined to stay there.  To see it on my own forums is quite frankly embarrassing.  So while having a hands-off approach is still my ideal, keeping these forums a useful resource and an enjoyable place to be for both long-time members and newcomers alike is my foremost priority.

Edit:  The edits to the Suikoden and Chrono Cross threads reflect the changes I'm talking about.  Sorry that a couple of worthwhile (albeit off-topic) posts got edited or deleted in process.

Well said Adam.  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for free speech but I've actually been avoiding posting here lately due to all the constant bickering and I know of at least one other regular who feels the same way.  For example, I'm super excited about the Chrono Cross arranged CD but there's way too much negative energy in that thread so I don't even feel like contributing to it anymore.  It seems like every thread here lately always has one or two people with the "____ is really disappointing" or "____ just sucks compared to his/her past works" or "I can't believe anybody actually likes ____" comments.  Here's an idea.  How about all you complainers try something different?  When you see a thread about something you either don't like or don't care about, just simply don't post anything there.  Like for me, I personally don't like pretty much anything composed by Motoi Sakuraba.  Now, if i were to see a thread about some new music he composed and I thought it sucked, I wouldn't go out of my way to say that.  What's the point?  Let the people who enjoy it post there so they can discuss it with other fans.  I'm not saying we should ban criticism all together, I just think there should be specific threads for it (Adam, maybe we need an "Arguments" forum, heh).  If somebody does the STC community a favor by posting an upcoming soundtrack or game announcement, let's try to not shit all over their thread with tons of negativity.

What's the saying?  "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."  Yeah, let's try that for a while.  Real life comes with enough negative energy to keep me occupied, I don't need it on STC too and I'm sure many of you feel the same way.

-Mike

That could very well be me. I used to come here daily and post frequently, but I haven't visited the site and haven't posted here in almost two weeks because of the reasons that Adam and Miker outlined in their posts. It's not fun to be a part of this community right now, and frankly it plain sucks knowing that no matter what threads are started or who says what it's going to boil down to bickering, cheap shots and back-and-forth negativity. Life is awesome and I've learned that it's too short and precious to be spent on petty forum arguments. Miker said it best:

Same here.

Agreed. I myself shouldn't have posted anything in Kayne West thread and that was my bad. As for the CC Arrange Album thread, the release doesn't interest me so I'm just staying out of it. No real reason to rain on other people's parade when they've been waiting for the album for eons.

I have seen this thread many times in my internet travels.

And it is worth seeing again and again for suggestions like this.

may i suggest a very effective and inexpensive dvd I think we could all benefit from watching right now:
http://www.amazon.com/Mister-Rogers-Nei … 545&sr=8-1

of course we might get into a fistfight discussing whether to buy or download.

You would not *believe* the friendship adventures I've had lately.  One of them involved pirate gold and ghosts!

Anyways, it's interesting to see that I'm not the only one who has become disenfranchised by the negativity in this community lately.  I guess I don't post that often anyways, but all the hate keeps me from even viewing the boards as much as I used to.  Hopefully that can be fixed.

This!

Also, Zane, I love you. <3

I think we're falling somewhere between "excessive negativity" and "excessive oversensitivity". For what it's worth, I saw a slew of praise for the sample in the Chrono Cross arrange thread, then three people say they were kinda "eh" on it, then Adam makes a good ironic point about Brink of Time's experimental nature and people's response to it compared to the CC arrange sample, then two people complain that there is excessive whining in people's opinions (both posts are now deleted). Uh...Sorry to Kirin and Amazingu, I really don't see anything bad in there. From what I saw, the people that posted were looking forward to the album and were a little let down by the sample. How is that spreading a negative, cancerous vibe across the whole community? I don't get it.

This is my take on any "negativity" that has been going around...People are involved emotionally and financially in the things that are discussed on the board. When something works out, it's great...You get your money's worth and you go home happy. When it doesn't...Well, it's perfectly valid to make negative comments on it, because you've just wasted time and money (hmm...) on something you think is subpar. Especially with subjective matter like games and music. miker made a good point about Sakuraba...He's never liked him and doesn't have much bad to say about him. He doesn't have much of a stake in him. Well, for me personally, I used to be a huge fan of his, I bought a lot of his soundtracks and I feel let down with a lot of his recent work. As for "This work isn't as great as something they've done in the past"...There are people that feel to be a true fan of someone, they have to like nearly everything of theirs and there are others who like some stuff and not others. I fall squarely into the latter category with pretty much every band and VGM composer imaginable. There's rarely a case where it's 100% good. I think the problem is when people go out of their way to find problems with something (something I have seen in other boards and it gets incredibly old fast) and I don't really see that happening too much here.

For my part, the only truely and intentionally negative (offensive?) thing I feel I've posted recently is my response to Cedille in the 128-bit VGM thread. For anyone that was annoyed by my end of it, I am sorry for continuing it, but I don't think I handled it the wrong way either. My response to Joe in the Suikoden thread wasn't particularly nice, but it was also intended to state flaws in a rather strong argument about a certain type of fan...It's going to have an argumentive tone to it. I really don't want to get to the point where everytime something like this comes up, people start threatening to leave the boards due to "excessive negativity".

I can't say as I've seen an excess of negativity lately, but I'll admit I've not been as involved as I'd like to be of late (New Year's resolution, methinks). I do try to self-police myself (a large part of why I use forums for most of my communication is the lack of immediacy; sometimes I'll rewrite an entire post after reviewing it) but I'll apologize here in the event that I've offended anyone recently.
I'm not sure I agree with the idea that dissenting opinions should be curbed or by extension that they automatically diminish or derail a thread. As long as it doesn't get personal or mean-spirited, contrasting views are at the core of a discussion forum. Again though, I've not noticed much hostility in the first place. Here's to hoping that holds.

I agree with everything Adam said. This forum is full of great people with interesting opinions, but the arguments have been pretty caustic and intimidating lately. That said, I was taken aback by the claim that some people just criticize things for the sake of it. I tend to be pretty easygoing and positive with my opinions about most things both in posts and full reviews; but if I hear a string quartet or orchestration, I expect a reasonable level of professionalism since I've studied them a lot. A little criticism is healthy in a discussion forum, especially on a site featuring critical reviews. Totally agree with the_miker about refraining from criticising every work by an artist you don't like and whatnot. I also agree that criticism can be obnoxious if presented in certain ways so maybe some of us should work on presenting our opinions better. That probably includes me sometimes too and I'm sorry if I've caused any offence.

I had (or tried to have) the same belief as miker, but recently I couldn't have maintained it at all, and have made a couple scenes. Since I started registering in the English VGM forums 2 or 3 years ago, while I have been generally impressed with the enthusiasm and insight out there, I have been noticing that I occasionally encounter the kind of person that seems to enjoy posting something pretty controversial and potentially offensive at the borderline between being frank and being a troll, shows the hatred toward the specific fanbase, but is normally forgiven for it because of "the freedom of expression" or "you can close the thread if you don't like", and at the extreme, once he/she witnesses anybody else doing the same thing, quickly pretends to be a victim, becomes a volunteered moderator and pounces on the remark. Over the years as I describe, I had found myself wondering what if I keep myself silent whereas negativity like that is allowed, and finally changed my policy.

However, my conversion proved wrong, at least, in STC. I consider myself as a pretty low profile member, and I hope the influence of my negativity is small, but apparently it may not, but still, I know this thread is perhaps not a good place to talk about and deal with the individual conflict in detail. Lastly, Adam, if you think you need to edit this post, could you delete it as a whole? An edited post probably wouldn't reflect my exact thought, and I fear it might cause further offence.

You know, I liked where this thread was going initally - keyword: liked, past tense.

wow, that's even more passive aggressive than me

Relax, this thread isn't blowing up...I only have two things to say in regards to it before I stop looking at it.

Thing #1:

Cedille, if you have a personal problem with the way I post or what I post, contact me through email or PM. Me and everyone here, I would hope, can care less what you think about my posting style, but I'd at least read something if you had sent it to me, especially since we had the understanding to do so in private before anyway. You're just going to rile yourself up needlessly if you cling to every little thing I've written from the past three years. However, DON'T come out on these boards and start throwing baseless and mysterious accusations around, which you likely have little to no knowledge of. That is almost assured to lead to trouble, if you put me in a position where I have to defend myself. All three posts that you've indirectly targetted at me, I don't even know where to begin responding to because they're so non-specific (the Chudah's Corner thing, "the hatred toward the specific fanbase", "at the extreme, once he/she witnesses anybody else doing the same thing, quickly pretends to be a victim, becomes a volunteered moderator and pounces on the remark"...what are you talking about?), so I'm just going to write this off as baseless and move on. Confront me in private with something of substance, otherwise stay out of my face (and refrain from indirectly yet obviously referencing me, then conveniently walking away) on these boards. Adam, please don't snip this post...I promise it's the last you'll hear of this matter from my end here, as long as no one attempts to drag it out further.

Thing #2:

Speaking of substance...I'm sorry, I see a lot of people throwing the so-called negativity of these boards around left and right and I have yet to see where it is stemming from or anything that is different from the past 9-10 years, aside from people threatening to leave and stop posting or overreacting to the board as a whole when people chime in with valid negative criticism. Sorry, these boards been much, much worse than this in the past with cheap shots, pseudo-elitism and overall negativity and and I personally felt the same way many of the above posters feel, so this sudden widespread negativity revelation strikes me as totally hypocritical, since it was nowhere to be found then. I think people need to chill out and relax. It's a great board with a lot of great people here, so please stop trying to make this out to be worse than it actually is.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/3150/thumbsupxj3.jpg

A+++

Also A++++ to the poster who said that this is just as much an overreacting problem as it is an argumentative problem. 

I think people need to realize this is the Internet, after all.  Discussion can (and will) be more volatile than a face to face conversation, that is the nature of electronic communication.  These boards are still far and above all the other available forums in terms of discussion and material.