Slighty off-topic: the Tweakguides.com forums

I haven't updated here in a while, mainly because I'm just enjoying my rig. I have no plans to upgrade, even though the next-gen nVidia cards are right around the corner (the big tamale will cost $650, which is a little too much to spend for some faster frame rates in Crysis).

So I thought I'd take a moment to vent something on my mind. If you've never visited Tweakguides.com, you should. It's a neat little website by an entrepreneurial gamer named Koroush Ghazi, who has written countless guides on how to optimize various game engines through a game's configuration files. There are plenty of places to find guides like this, but Koroush's site is certainly one of the best. It's updated daily with news in the goings-on of PC gaming – patches, hardware, software, you name it.

It's also home to one of the most unusual forums on the 'net. Unlike most forums, it requires a paid email account, like the one you use with your ISP. You're not allowed to use free email accounts like Windows Live or Gmail. When you first sign up, you're only allowed to post in one sub-forum. You are required to post an introduction explaining who you are and why anyone should care. If enough members like you (six, to be exact), you will be voted in via "reputation" points. If you do not follow these rules exactly, your thread is locked and you are permanently banned. No second chances here.

Once inside, the forums are structured with unrivaled rigidity. Every topic is neatly organized into single threads; posting a second thread about a subject will get you a warning and, if done enough, get you an infraction or even banned. As an example, there are two separate forums for PC rigs – "My Current Machine" and "My Future Machine". You are simply not allowed to talk about upgrades in the "My Current Machine" forum – that's strictly for the "My Future Machine" forum. Violating the rule results in warnings, infractions, or a ban. Repeating any news or subject that has already been posted in a thread is also promptly scorned and, like any other violation, can get you warned or banned.

Presumably because the forum was once a bastion for idiots desperate for free tech support, asking questions of any kind is treated with disdain. In order to ask a question, you must thoroughly explain all the steps you took to solve the problem yourself. If you didn't take any steps, or even if your steps are deemed inadequate (i.e., you should have read your source more closely), you'll get a warning, infraction or a ban. It's assumed implicitly that the people in the community are wanton self-helpers, and would only bother to ask someone a question in the most extreme circumstances.

I've been an invited member for a while and, between the main forums I frequent – GameCritics, OverdrivePC, HardOCP and Maingear – this one is by far the most strict and tightly controlled forum I've ever been a part of. The moderators watch the forum like hawks for the slightest transgression. On the one hand, it's helped fulfill Koroush's vision of a forum that is much more mature than most internet forums. It is also, however, a little more dull. I suppose this is to be expected of any forum, but while I have generally enjoyed interacting with the community there, I can't help but feel that it's not quite what it should be.

I generally like the notion that prospective members have to be voted in by current members. However, at Tweakguides, any violation of the forum rules for the introduction thread results in the thread being locked and the user banned. That is not empowering the community. I mean, if the community doesn't want people there, the reputation system is in place to let them make the vote. Prospective members that don't follow the rules simply won't get voted in. One would think that would be enough, yet every such thread is locked with a message from an administrator writing some response to the user such as, "This is not a tech support forum. Thread locked, user banned."

I can't help but feel similarly about the rigidity of the forums themselves. Fundamentally, I agree with the idea that there shouldn't be too many duplicate topics. But again, rather than letting the community make the call, the administrators step in and give firm warnings to anyone who, for example, neglected to read the past few pages of posts in a thread and didn't realize someone had already posted the same thing. When administrators step in over that kind of thing, I can't help but think, "Christ guys, it's a freaking internet forum. So someone repeated something that was said four pages back. OMG! Stop the press! I mean really, RELAX already. It's not a big deal!"

You are simply not allowed to have multiple threads going about the same game. Over at GameCritics, we've often split threads about a single game because the various issues being discussed become worthy topics unto themselves. So for example someone may start a thread about GTA4, and then we'll end up with three or four threads about the game – one talking about its social implications, one talking about the gameplay, one mentioning it in a news blurb about Jack Thompson, etc. We don't feel a compulsion to keep everything extra neat and tidy. It's just not that big of a deal. At Tweakguides, any one thread can have multiple overlapping conversations about the game. They are, on some rare occasions, separated into distinct threads. But that's the exception, and it's only done by administrators. Users trying to make the call will be warned or banned. A great example of how this rigidity is counter-productive can be seen by comparing threads at GameCritics. We have a thread going about games we never got into, our gaming "security blankets", and other such threads that allow users to share their personalities. You just don't often see those kinds of threads in the rigidly structured Tweakguides forums – the community, while moderately active, does not seem very close-knit.

And asking questions. Man oh man. That is just taboo. I recently saw a user banned for posting a question. After the ban I looked through his post history. He had a reputation of around 10 or 12, and the overwhelming majority of his posts were just normal nice chit-chat. And on this occasion, he even made the effort to describe the effort he'd taken to solve his problem. But the admins decided his efforts weren't good enough, and despite his reputation he was promptly banned. He'd make the mistake of asking a question before, and this was the last straw. In its attempts to rid itself of tech support leechers, the forum goes too far and punishes otherwise unassuming people for having the audacity to ask a question of educated peers without doing extensive research first.

I posit that an inquiry of one's peers should not be frowned upon – only the blatant abuse of such a privilege. But at Tweakguides, suggesting that someone do as much research as possible and only ask other members for their suggestion as an absolute last resort is not a guideline, but a hard and fast rule that, if violated, can quickly result in a ban. Speaking from years of experience, it's often far more practical to ask someone knowledgeable than it is to spend hours or days troubleshooting yourself. There are some problems to which I have searched extensively and found no satisfactory resolution. One would think that the rigid introductory process would rid the community of the leechers who truly have no desire to contribute and just want free tech support. The above banned user had plenty to contribute, as his reputation points showed; but he did not seem to understand that even for intelligent, contributing members, asking for help without first qualifying oneself extensively is vehemently lamented.

I suppose that I like the forums because they are devoid of the immaturity that pervades other forums. I've had some vigorous and interesting discussions there, though I find that the less rigid structure of GameCritics lends itself to more frequent substantive discussions, despite the forum's comparatively small size. It's a sort of genuine intellectual elitism, and I don't mean that in a bad way. There are a lot of stupid, obnoxious people out there on internet forums, and Tweakguides does a fine job of filtering them out.

However, what I don't like is that the notion of a community-driven forum is largely illusory. It's an administratively-driven forum, in which users are treated much like schoolchildren, sternly scolded or even expelled for speaking out of turn. It seems like every time I drop by I see someone else being warned or banned. I sincerely wonder sometimes how the administrators find the time to monitor the forums so closely. Ultimately, I feel the system is fundamentally a good idea, but in practice is ruled with too much of an iron fist. A better forum would be firmly in the hands of the community, without the need for constant warnings, infractions and bannings. If the community didn't want someone, they wouldn't vote them in. If they wanted them gone, they'd vote them out. Moderators need only step in during extreme circumstances. It truly is that simple. Koroush Ghazi is, of course, free to run his website and his forum however he sees fit, and I do applaud his innovative and passionate dedication to mature discussion. In many ways the forums are a beacon of sensibility. What they are not, however, is a beacon of community.