I left the comments section of this blog closed and for good reason.
Because the Internet's anonymity just brings out the absolute WORST in people.
Today me and my wife retired our tenure as moderators on Pinoyxbox.com, because it seems that there are people on the forum who do not want us to continue with our efforts to keep the forum discussions civil and friendly.
I will say this: there are good people in the Pinoyxbox community, too. First off, I'd like to thank people like Fafa Roland, Kantoboy, GM, Yakisoba and RDPeralta for being so nice to us and for letting us be moderators, even if they only met us one day at one of the tournaments they ran; a chance encounter that perhaps changed all our lives.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for letting us be moderators, even if just for a few years. We don't expect anything in return; we just enjoyed our stay there and we're grateful that you guys have trusted us to let us manage the daily concerns of the forum.
To be honest, we just wanted to help the forum stay civil. If you surf online, you will see that because the Internet is so anonymous, everyone can just call anyone out, and pick a fight with whom they please. What we wanted from Pinoyxbox was for it to become a place that was not like that. If you go to Teamxbox, for example, ask for a tip on a game, and it turns into a full-blown CONSOLE WAR.
Just give it a try.
On Pinoyxbox, we wanted discussions not to degenerate into that. We wanted the online community to actually flourish and grow. We tried to enforce the rules as they were stated on the forum as best we can, and while the moderators may not agree on certain course of action, I think as much as possible we've tried to respect everyone on the forum as if we were dealing with them in person. I think that that's what kept things civil on the forum.
Anyhow, the last incident on Pinoyxbox was quite stressful for us; to be honest we don't really like being put in a spot like that, and we have no desire to be popular or respected for the decisions that we make when we moderate the forum. We just felt that some things had to be done to help the community flourish, to encourage people to join the forum and to essentially grow the community.
Well, enough raving for now; we'll just have to figure out what to do, going forward.
Thanks again, Pinoyxbox, for all the wonderful memories.
====================================================================
Wuffy's Take:
Today, both me and my husband relinquished our statuses as moderators of PinoyXBOX. It was really a fun ride but today, in the midst of a lot of circumstances, we are calling it quits. Our stay in PinoyXBOX was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done in my life. It was one hell of a roller-coaster ride in an effort to get Microsoft to recognize the Philippines and its group of XBOX players. We have done so much and yet at the same time have not done enough. In many ways, I won’t be where I am now without PinoyXBOX.
Perhaps one of the more controversial things that we did was to crack down on the piracy discussions. Those moves were highly debated in the community but regardless of the unpopularity of the discussion, we persisted on that. We also had our own share of ‘flame wars’, even to the extent that people photoshopped our faces into strange bodies in order to make a ‘point’. Being a moderator was a very hard responsibility. We are tasked to keep the peace as well as to make sure the forum rules are implemented.... And those things are extremely difficult.
As much as I’d like to talk about the finer points with regard to keeping a bunch of online avatars in coexisting happily...I’ll save that from another day. Right now my emotions are too raw and I don’t want to say anything which might be misconstrued as something else.
Oh well...at the end of the day, the Internet is not the real life. And I no longer want it to consume my real life. It’s time for me to move on to better things in real life. I’m still going to be a gamer...In fact I’m so excited for the next few weeks with Street Fighter 4, Killzone 2 and Star Ocean 4!
Because the Internet's anonymity just brings out the absolute WORST in people.
Today me and my wife retired our tenure as moderators on Pinoyxbox.com, because it seems that there are people on the forum who do not want us to continue with our efforts to keep the forum discussions civil and friendly.
I will say this: there are good people in the Pinoyxbox community, too. First off, I'd like to thank people like Fafa Roland, Kantoboy, GM, Yakisoba and RDPeralta for being so nice to us and for letting us be moderators, even if they only met us one day at one of the tournaments they ran; a chance encounter that perhaps changed all our lives.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for letting us be moderators, even if just for a few years. We don't expect anything in return; we just enjoyed our stay there and we're grateful that you guys have trusted us to let us manage the daily concerns of the forum.
To be honest, we just wanted to help the forum stay civil. If you surf online, you will see that because the Internet is so anonymous, everyone can just call anyone out, and pick a fight with whom they please. What we wanted from Pinoyxbox was for it to become a place that was not like that. If you go to Teamxbox, for example, ask for a tip on a game, and it turns into a full-blown CONSOLE WAR.
Just give it a try.
On Pinoyxbox, we wanted discussions not to degenerate into that. We wanted the online community to actually flourish and grow. We tried to enforce the rules as they were stated on the forum as best we can, and while the moderators may not agree on certain course of action, I think as much as possible we've tried to respect everyone on the forum as if we were dealing with them in person. I think that that's what kept things civil on the forum.
Anyhow, the last incident on Pinoyxbox was quite stressful for us; to be honest we don't really like being put in a spot like that, and we have no desire to be popular or respected for the decisions that we make when we moderate the forum. We just felt that some things had to be done to help the community flourish, to encourage people to join the forum and to essentially grow the community.
Well, enough raving for now; we'll just have to figure out what to do, going forward.
Thanks again, Pinoyxbox, for all the wonderful memories.
====================================================================
Wuffy's Take:
Today, both me and my husband relinquished our statuses as moderators of PinoyXBOX. It was really a fun ride but today, in the midst of a lot of circumstances, we are calling it quits. Our stay in PinoyXBOX was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done in my life. It was one hell of a roller-coaster ride in an effort to get Microsoft to recognize the Philippines and its group of XBOX players. We have done so much and yet at the same time have not done enough. In many ways, I won’t be where I am now without PinoyXBOX.
Perhaps one of the more controversial things that we did was to crack down on the piracy discussions. Those moves were highly debated in the community but regardless of the unpopularity of the discussion, we persisted on that. We also had our own share of ‘flame wars’, even to the extent that people photoshopped our faces into strange bodies in order to make a ‘point’. Being a moderator was a very hard responsibility. We are tasked to keep the peace as well as to make sure the forum rules are implemented.... And those things are extremely difficult.
As much as I’d like to talk about the finer points with regard to keeping a bunch of online avatars in coexisting happily...I’ll save that from another day. Right now my emotions are too raw and I don’t want to say anything which might be misconstrued as something else.
Oh well...at the end of the day, the Internet is not the real life. And I no longer want it to consume my real life. It’s time for me to move on to better things in real life. I’m still going to be a gamer...In fact I’m so excited for the next few weeks with Street Fighter 4, Killzone 2 and Star Ocean 4!