WHY PEOPLE ARE QUITTING CS- A Discussion

[zankeet]

This may be a wild take and probably won't make sense, but as an oldish soul on this website, having been here since 2012, this is something I was thinking about.

CS, over the years, took MANY stances to 'remove negativity' from it's forums. It killed the trade rant thread. It killed the 'things that annoy you' thread. It constantly has killed off places where the users could expressive negative opinions about things. Even if those opinions were following all CS rules by not naming names. Mods really locked down on 'bullying and harassment' and while I fully support that decision, it has exasperated the issue I have with the mods.

Mods have the ability to come off as blunt or rude. They are in the position of power to do so.

But that ability has over time been removed from the users.

Which is why I think the mods sounding 'rude or blunt' is more of an issue, or something users notice more, because the mods sometimes speak in a way that users frankly aren't allowed to.

I didn't notice the mod bluntness NEARLY as much when I first joined, but in that 2015-2017 era where all those threads started getting deleted and CS cracked down harder on its rules and what was allowed? BOY did I notice it then.

Again, wild take and probably nonsensical but I miss being able to be unhappy or angry about things as long as I was following the rules.

Your take kindof sums up the reason why this thread got so popular so fast. Because the options to discuss unhappiness wasn't there much.

That's def my opinion on why these threads blow up. This site is *so* desensitized, and child proofed, ANY chance users can get to express any complex emotion is taken like a man finding water in the Sahara.

Negativity is bad! But negative *feelings* are human, and this site has a lot of adults in it, who (like myself) maybe feel...patronized by the child-proofing? Its why many people probably "grow out" of it, since the site isn't growing up with them, or at LEAST, not letting them *be* an adult on it.

I am not saying let anarchy reign, but maybe some updates to *allow* adults to...show complex emotions, and let them vent or talk some adult things in a healthy, controlled forum, would bring more people in and not make this site seem like its only for pre-teens. People can critique the site and still praise and love it, like this thread. People can talk negative about things without being mean or condescending. I just feel making the site more...neutral, would appeal to the long-term adults who live here.

That DEF is a change that would make this site more user-friendly to me.

Edit: ALSO YES More instagram usage pls its so...stagnant! You can do polls there too, and post art and dressups and all kinda stuffs to break out of CS and get more outside people involved. A popular Insta could bring people in way more!

I completely agree with this. As an avid user since 2013, I feel like I remember seeing mature/adult threads in the forums as a kid for this specific reason. Ranting etc. This is the first rant thread I've seen in YEARS. I feel like banning all rants as a whole definitely leads to people wanting to leave and go where they're able to express more of their opinion.

And I DEFINITELY think a more active instagram would help a LOT! I've seen dead games get revived purely because the instagram pages popped off. I believe having an active instagram and potentially twitter (or x now? ew) would bring in more new players!

[Ravens-Folklore]

while i don’t necessarily agree with the way staff handles things sometimes, this conversation is steering from productive to pettiness. there’s no reason to have an “i hate cs” stamp in your signature, this is a really strange and fruitless argument that won’t do anything for fixing the fundamentals of the site.

I am personally just curious if you hate CS that much why you would go out of your way to state it ON CS. Why are you participating in something you hate? That genuinely confuses and baffles me. Spreading that kind of hate just because you can seems so… I dunno it’s the wrong term but… just icky to me. Like it gives me the “ew blech” feeling. It seems pointlessly hateful and rude and it is considering you are literally saying you HATE it here. So again if you hate it here so much why stay??

It’s a weird circle in my head and I can’t wrap my mind around it.

[Shadowclaw34]

If I may pivot to a different topic for a bit I want to kind of resurface what was mentioned briefly 10+ pages ago: CS as a site doesn't really have any good avenues for casual chatter at the moment which makes it harder to engage with the actual community. I personally don't RP or partake in closed species and while I like to post in the event threads every now and then there's no... "casual chitchat" thread. I understand part of this is inherently unavoidable just due to the way forums are, but I think allowing some lighter, more casual general talk -style threads would potentially help retain more active forum users.

I feel it's partially why Discord appeals to so many users - there they don't have to worry about whether their posts have enough substance to contribute because the conversation is much more casual and less confined to a specific topic. I know staff has expressed disinterest at an official Discord server or other chatrooms due to moderating issues, so maybe more casual chatter threads could be a good compromise? :]

I think the only hard part is discord is 13+ meaning if there is someone younger on there, their discord can face termination which kinda feels unfair for the under 13 community on CS

Are people under 13 even allowed on CS? At least without parent supervision? I thought legally they weren't

From CS rules

"If your child is under 13 years of age, they will not be able to make posts in our forums or send messages to other players. That is designed as a safety measure to prevent them from accidentally sharing their personal information with other players. If you decide, you can fill in and sign a parents permission form which gives your child under 13 years of age the ability to post on our forums and send private messages like a regular user. That form is sent to the email address that was provided when the account was created. If you need us to send the form again, please contact us at the address below." but thats all i noticed, i couldve skimmed over and missed a rule

[LunarLights20]

If I may pivot to a different topic for a bit I want to kind of resurface what was mentioned briefly 10+ pages ago: CS as a site doesn't really have any good avenues for casual chatter at the moment which makes it harder to engage with the actual community. I personally don't RP or partake in closed species and while I like to post in the event threads every now and then there's no... "casual chitchat" thread. I understand part of this is inherently unavoidable just due to the way forums are, but I think allowing some lighter, more casual general talk -style threads would potentially help retain more active forum users.

I feel it's partially why Discord appeals to so many users - there they don't have to worry about whether their posts have enough substance to contribute because the conversation is much more casual and less confined to a specific topic. I know staff has expressed disinterest at an official Discord server or other chatrooms due to moderating issues, so maybe more casual chatter threads could be a good compromise? :]

I think the only hard part is discord is 13+ meaning if there is someone younger on there, their discord can face termination which kinda feels unfair for the under 13 community on CS

Are people under 13 even allowed on CS? At least without parent supervision? I thought legally they weren't

People under 13 are not allowed to talk in the sight, that's why there is the term COPPA

[medimedes]

I personally think if you want to express like a love/hate relationship with cs you should put like ‘hellsite/affectionate’ in your sig or something to that tune, but I don’t really know lol

[jutdwae]

while i don’t necessarily agree with the way staff handles things sometimes, this conversation is steering from productive to pettiness. there’s no reason to have an “i hate cs” stamp in your signature, this is a really strange and fruitless argument that won’t do anything for fixing the fundamentals of the site.

I am personally just curious if you hate CS that much why you would go out of your way to state it ON CS. Why are you participating in something you hate? That genuinely confuses and baffles me. Spreading that kind of hate just because you can seems so… I dunno it’s the wrong term but… just icky to me. Like it gives me the “ew blech” feeling. It seems pointlessly hateful and rude and it is considering you are literally saying you HATE it here. So again if you hate it here so much why stay??

It’s a weird circle in my head and I can’t wrap my mind around it.

exactly, and even though “satire” its still just contributing to lots of toxic negativity and incredibly unproductive,,

[r0scx0z]

while i don’t necessarily agree with the way staff handles things sometimes, this conversation is steering from productive to pettiness. there’s no reason to have an “i hate cs” stamp in your signature, this is a really strange and fruitless argument that won’t do anything for fixing the fundamentals of the site.

I completely agree with this, and from all of the "i hate cs" stamps I've seen none lead to a thread explaining at least why? I know this site needs a lot of work, and certain things are frustrating but I cant really understand what having something like that is even going to help. Like i said, not even clicking those stamps lead to any thread on here explaining why at least not from the ones I've seen.

[ghostmaker]

I've mostly been lurking on the site for the past few years, but I used to be fairly active & have personal experiences with a lot of the issues people seem to be raising. I've personally had some issues with the way staff has handled things in the past, but they've pretty much been resolved.

I'm obviously just speaking from my own views, so feel free to take any of the below with a grain of salt. I also have no intentions of coming off as rude/aggressive with any of this!

- I've personally never experienced a mod being rude/unprofessional, and while I understand that people have their own two cents on the topic, I really don't see how it'd be possible to essentially force the staff to change how they interact with the userbase when dealing with site-related issues such as giving out strikes/warnings. I've seen multiple people bring up the fact that every individual perceives things different, which is why I honestly think it's pointless to keep that particular topic alive. If the staff were to be "less rude" and use different language, there'd likely be people who suddenly complain about the mods being passive aggressive. Bluntness is almost always a given in professional environments, and to suggest that staff change that because their bluntness can be perceived as abrasive would be a disservice to their positions overall.

- A lot of people have also expressed their dislike of the fact that CS hasn't changed to accommodate its adult userbase over the years, but as an adult myself, I honestly think that's pointless. I see absolutely no problem with the way the website functions right now, and it seems like everyone is so caught up in "wanting the website to grow with them" that they neglect to consider the fact that most adults on this website started their accounts as children. If the website shifted to be more adult-centered, it would be taking something away from the current generation of kids on the site who wouldn't be given the chance to grow up with the site like so many of us were. I genuinely do not see the point in changing anything about CS in regards to what audience it primarily caters to. If the site were to suddenly shift to focus on the adult demographic, staff would still have to consider the thousands of underage users and potentially risk exposing them to more mature content. I would MUCH, much rather prioritize keeping kids safe online over any potential shifts in the way CS is structured. Even then, all of this is hypothetical, because I truly and genuinely believe there is and will never be any plans for the website to change who it caters to.

ALSO, I'd like to point out the fact that COPPA is only applicable to users in the United States. Kids younger than 13 are free to post on forums/private message other users if they're outside of the US.

- I'm seeing a lot of newer users that don't seem to have been on CS prior to the "no anti- anything statements" rule, so it seems a lot of people don't have context as to why it was put in place. I do think it's a bit redundant to an extent, but I'd much rather have the rule in place than witness the various racist/homophobic/etc. statements that were broadcasted on the site prior to the rule being implemented. Yes, I think people should be allowed to say they hate various media and whatnot, because I definitely hold a strong dislike for certain things, but as I said, I'd much rather have all negative statements in that vein discouraged than allow the few bigoted ones to leak through.

[r0scx0z]

while i don’t necessarily agree with the way staff handles things sometimes, this conversation is steering from productive to pettiness. there’s no reason to have an “i hate cs” stamp in your signature, this is a really strange and fruitless argument that won’t do anything for fixing the fundamentals of the site.

I am personally just curious if you hate CS that much why you would go out of your way to state it ON CS. Why are you participating in something you hate? That genuinely confuses and baffles me. Spreading that kind of hate just because you can seems so… I dunno it’s the wrong term but… just icky to me. Like it gives me the “ew blech” feeling. It seems pointlessly hateful and rude and it is considering you are literally saying you HATE it here. So again if you hate it here so much why stay??

It’s a weird circle in my head and I can’t wrap my mind around it.

exactly, and even though “satire” its still just contributing to lots of toxic negativity and incredibly unproductive,,

this ^^^^

[mourning dove]

ITS NOT ABOUT THE BUTTON‼️‼️‼️‼️
it’s about silencing any negative opinions. i do NOT want a warning for me saying ‘i dont like genshin!!!’ or ‘i dont like FR!!!’ it makes me Not want to share any of my opinions on the site
i should be allowed to say i dont like something without having to worry about a mod in my pms.