I'm putting together a Tome game, and seriously just put this warning on a link to the board:
We're all pretty aware that we're the assholes of Game Forums, but when I need to state that first, it means the signal:noise ratio is so incredibly off putting that we're in a slow death spiral. We're driving old posters away quicker than thick hided people are finding us.The board that spawned the Tome. Honestly, just be aware that people have gotten used to being assholes there. It's not a friendly environment for new comers, and we're in the process of fixing that.
I understand that unhibited hostility is kind of our "thing," but we've fucking become like /b/ in our attitude. That's a frightening thing, and it means few people listen to the good points we make.
So, can we try to make an effort to tone down the fucking hostility? At least to new posters? Hell, let people see we've got a point before we scream at them "you're an idiot and you should feel bad".
I know I'm not the only person who's hesitated to bring people here, and I know people have warned their friends away from here. And that's fucking insane. Are we all so damaged that we have to create a place of almost pure unalloyed hostility to play out a sadomasochistic dance of self punishment and lashing out at others? It's like some byronic or Bosch-esque vision of Hell. We've been thrown out of other forums because we refuse to play by the rules, so we've turned a more lenient board into a place of torment.
This has to get turned down a notch or two, guys, at least.