OBT Forum

I wouldn't say bickering political parties, more like bickering family members.  The debate, at least on this site, has more of a "Did your barber have their eyes open or closed when they cut your hair?" or "You call that music?" or "Well in my day we had to walk up hill both ways in 10 feet of snow in July to get to school." feel to it.  But that's just my take on it.  Of course I've been known to be wrong.

+1 for Dread. Fostering a strong BattleTech Community is key. Flame wars and trolling only hurt. They certainly don't help improve BT's image among new gamers.

I agree with you that flame wars don't help- that said I still don't overly care for the Republic/Dark Age era.  I have FM:3085, I read it, personally I found it less then exciting.    Maybe my opinion will change- I wasn't too thrilled with the Jihad at first but as it progressed I found it to be more interesting, to the point that I was eagerly looking forward to the new books.  It's still not the direction I would have taken, there are still parts I have a hard time accepting, but I can appreciate it for what it is.  But at the same time I can criticize what I don't like about it- but it's a very fine line between criticism and slamming the Dark Age and sometimes criticism can spill over to the other side.  As a long time player/follower(about 23 years or so) I can say I have seen this same reaction to the Jihad and the Dark Age before.  It happened with the introduction of the 4th SW and then later with the coming of the clans.  And I am sure it will happen again when we go from the Republic/Dark Age to whatever is next. 

One of the things I like about BT is that we're not locked into using the canon setting- if you don't like the Jihad/Dark Age/FCCW/Clans whatever you can easily go your own way and create your own AU.  That's what I'm doing with my Taurian Civil War AU- instead of just bitching about the way the TC is being handled- I'm going to do something positive, which is show the path I think the story should taken, with out constantly pointing to canon setting and say You Suck.

I'll be honest I hated the start of the jihad and the DA I began to write my own AU timeline partially because of that

However as the Jihad continued I liked the setting tbh I'd have liked it to continue another 10 years storyline time and really screw up things with the republic emerging as a survivor of the Jihad

The DA setting improved as it went on and left the republic behind going into the Succession States some of the later DA reads were really good books

With how Catalyst finished the Jihad Im confident that the canon line is on good stead but it won't stop my AU which has kinda taken over it for me now

EDIT I hated the Republics shield defence to me that stood against much of what battletech stood for the ability to jump into a system fight to a planet land and conquer it hopefully CGL crush it

However as the Jihad continued I liked the setting tbh I'd have liked it to continue another 10 years storyline time and really screw up things with the republic emerging as a survivor of the Jihad

The DA setting improved as it went on and left the republic behind going into the Succession States some of the later DA reads were really good books

With how Catalyst finished the Jihad Im confident that the canon line is on good stead but it won't stop my AU which has kinda taken over it for me now

+1

I do have to say Catalyst has done a good job with the Jihad and the storyline so far. I actually do look forward to more.

I for one didn't like the dark age when it came along, i also didn't like the clans to start with but that changed with time, the jihad was a bit hit and miss to start with but it grew and became what was needed to get the universe to where it needed to be.

Now we are getting to the point where we don't already know what is going to happen i think things will improve because we will not already know the outcome of any events.

I also liked (in the end) the way the Jihad storyline was presented as in universe news reports and hopefully this will continue.

I don't know about you, but I really would prefer to not be identified this way. To anybody outside that "family", it pretty much just looks like a bunch of people arguing or being assholes. How is that helping to keep people interested? Not just the people already in the community, but anybody new who shows up?

Not liking the material is one thing, and absolutely understandable. Taking every single chance you can to make sure you drive home how "stupid / written by drunkards / against the spirit of the game / etc." the material is? Well, that goes right past axe to grind and into trolling territory. That really seems to be the tone of the site lately, and it certainly wasn't why I joined the place that was billed as an alternative to the endless BT forum flamewars. I guess that's where you and I differ. I don't normally tell folks "You call that music?!"

Especially if I'm looking to include unknown other people in the room in the conversation. If I'm looking to shut down the conversation and turn into an endless argument hashing over the same tired points...well, usually that just gets called trolling. I'd say politics, but trolling already covered that. It sure doesn't feel like "Our"Battletech lately, but "Just the Battletech we like and say is okay."

I think Dread has a fair point, we have been getting a little narky around here of late, and I have been guilty as well.  As I remember it, these boards here were more about discussing issues positively than negatively.  Of course that is not to say we have to be angels, not everything is for everyone, but the tone has changed.

Perhaps we can use this moment of introspection to get back to the more balanced and respectful tone we were using previously, before we descend into something we will regret.

Dread's 100% correct.

Here are the facts:

1. The current situation is my fault and I take full responsibility for it.

2. OBT's original and current primary goal is to foster the BattleTech hobby for each and every member of the community.

3. BattleTech hobby's can be as mutually inclusive or exclusive as a member wants, but not at the expense of another member's hobby.

Chapter One, the End.

Until now, I've been overtly "hands off" when it came to forum moderation and policing. It was a policy that seemed to work, but no longer.

Personally, I think the days of OBT being the wild wild west of BattleTech are over. I'm not particularly sad to moderate or appoint some board moderators (in fact I'm actually surprised we got along this far without them), it's just a job/role I wish OBT didn't need.

However, unlike the CGL boards, moderation here will be based on the aforementioned goal of OBT: the fostering of an individual's hobby. Constructive discourse is the name of the game on every board except for those noted. If you want to flamewar or troll, those are your stomping grounds, not these.

I have some decisions to make. Some will be open to discussion, but others will not. If you don't like'em - go pound sand. I tend to differ to involved, helpful, constructive, contributing members to begin with.

To everyone who cares: thank you for your continued support of this website and the BattleTech hobby. The community and the game is better for it.