GespenstM,
Welcome back, and thanks for taking the opportunity to raise your question.
Short form, I suspect that there's a gap between what you're looking for in a forum, and what Catalyst Game Labs wants this forum to be.
I like to use the example of the shopping mall. The mall has dozens of shops, with dozens of different interest groups coming & going. You have the pensioners going to the hearing aid shop, the gamers hanging out at the electronics shop, even the tattoo shop minding its own business. Now the customers of the tattoo shop may like (betrays age) Rammstein more than they like Aerosmith, and some might like to play metal loud & strong in that shop. But it's not just about that shop and its' customers.
There's nothing wrong with metal, and there's nothing wrong with Rammstein. But the mall needs to be run for the benefit of all customers. And the mall cops exist to help keep things on an even keel.
I trust the analogy is clear. Yes, some forums allow - encourage - a high level of debate & argumentation. Some forums don't worry about aggressive or abusive language. Some forums encourage dogpiling on anyone who doesn't support the in-crowd vocally.
This isn't that sort of forum.
These forums are supported by CGL financially, as a place where a community interested in their stompy giant robot game can exist. The forum management team - moderators, admins, site admins etc - exist to support CGL's community.
Now note that no-one has ever been banned here for disagreeing with CGL's development line. Would we have had repeated threads on LAMs, monitors, ice hockey, etc etc if we simply attacked disagreement? Rather, people get warned - and banned - when their enthusiasm or passion for a particular topic causes them to attack others, or to treat them with contempt. That's not what CGL wants here, and therefore we exist to act.
TO go back to our analogy, you can walk through the mall humming Mein Teil as much as you want - you can even sing along quietly. The moment you start bellowing the words, the moment you fire up your boombox at 11, the moment you start yelling at the person who asks you to turn the music down ... you've crossed the line set out by the forum Rules.
I understand, and can accept, that people may wish that the line was somewhere else. We're all different; I might be able to tolerate certain forms of disputation more than you, and less of other forms. But the forums exist for the sake of a community. Of necessity, all members of a community do have to accept some forms of personal limitations in exchange for the benefits of that community. Here, the benefits include early news of new product, access to developers & writers, the opportunity to seek canon clarifications, and from time to time even the chance to provide input to the line developers.
If the limitations required to access the benefits of this community exceed their worth to a person, then this community may not be the right choice for that person. If a person does join the community, then there is a requirement to accept the limitations required.
At the end of the day, no-one's forced to join, or leave, this forum. It's a personal choice, and we're all adults - we have the right to choose, and the responsibility to accept the consequences of choice.
Regards,
Worktroll, Administrator
On behalf of the forum management team.