GameSpot is on the verge of momentous change as we prepare to re-launch the site in the biggest change its seen in 17 years. During this time of self-reflection were aiming to improve as many aspects of the site as possible. One of the biggest issue plaguing GameSpot is the abysmal practices seen in our comment section.
The gaming industry strives in partaking of past exploits in fantasy worlds and individual experiences that evoke emotional responses. Weve all come together to talk about the latest game releases or to recall the good old days in gaming, its the very reason so many of you participate in our forums and comment sections. Not only do we encourage it, we cant thank you enough for doing so on a daily basis. Unfortunately, some of you have decided to abuse our communal space with uncalled for levels of abusive and offensive language. We aim to fix that.
It is my pleasure to announce that we will be changing our Terms of Usealong with revising how we moderate the site. If we are to grow as a community, we must hold some level of respect towards each other and in doing so we must be able to communicate like proper human beings. Hate speech and threats have no place in any community that hopes to be welcoming and engaging towards anyone who simply wants to talk to likeminded individuals. I realize that simply saying we are changing things isnt enough so starting today anyone with moderating powers on the site will enforce our existing guidelines (and continue to do so once new ones are in place) in the following way.
First offense: User will receive a warning.
Second offense: Seven-day suspension from the site
Third offense: Permanent Ban from GameSpot
For the sake of clarity, this will include forums, comment sections, and blogs. The ban will be imposed to those that violate our guidelines within a span of 60 days of each offense. If no further incidents occur within the 60 day period, the user will be cycled back to good standing all is right in the world.
For most of you, the only effect of these changes should be a noticeable improvement in the quality of conversation across the site. On the other hand some of you might see this as an unrealistic request and to those individual Id like to remind them that there are plenty of vestibules in the online space that would welcome your closed minded views. GameSpot will not tolerate hate speech, threats, and we will ban accordingly at our own discretion.
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