The boards reminds me of that one episode of community

IRight ArmI·Jul 19, 2018·2 votes·1,747 views

These boards remind me of that one episode from the show community. Where this app comes out where people give others smiles up to 5 and then some elite group of people is formed who have 5 smiles and they can control who gets smiles now (basically whatever they don't like gets smiles taken away) and if you have 4 or less smiles you're a nobody and outcast.

How is this similar to the boards? There's an elite (very large) group of people I'll call the teachers pets who are honor 5 controlling the boards down voting whatever triggers them, whatever they don't like, and whatever doesn't fit their perception of what they believe in. This isn't some organized physical group it's a psychological community built probably by Riot to control and possibly oppress the boards. You will get down voted for anything these people just have to not like it and they'll come into your thread in numbers and harass you and make sure your thread never sees the light of day.

If any of you have seen that episode then you'll know what I'm talking about.

9 Comments

ModThe DjinnJul 19, 20184 votes

[{quoted}](name=IRight ArmI,realm=NA,application-id=6heBIhQc,discussion-id=1VpIEyKM,comment-id=,timestamp=2018-07-19T16:04:10.757+0000)How is this similar to the boards? There's an elite [very large] group of people I'll call the teachers pets who are honor 5 controlling the boards down voting whatever triggers them, whatever they don't like, and whatever doesn't fit their perception of what they believe in.

As someone who is pretty up-to-date on board behavioral trends, this is not a thing exclusive to "an elite group of teacher's pets." We see mass downvoting on Pro-Riot threads and Anti-Riot threads alike, based on who is online, what the topic is, and what mood people are in. It's more a feature of the human tendency to hop on bandwagons and move with the group than it is a side effect of any specific group of like-minded individuals, and what sorts of threads get what response really does vary by day, time of day, and board it is posted on.

There also definitely isn't some Riot-built group psychological experiment meant to control and/or oppress the boards (really -- I promise), and the more comments a thread gets, the more likely it is to be highly visited rather than the opposite.

That said, feel free to believe what you want. :)

IRight ArmIJul 19, 20182 votes

I don't want to come across the wrong way. I think you have a very interesting point. I'm a fan of psychology and things like it.

ModThe DjinnJul 19, 20181 votes

[{quoted}](name=IRight ArmI,realm=NA,application-id=6heBIhQc,discussion-id=1VpIEyKM,comment-id=00020000,timestamp=2018-07-19T16:31:42.487+0000)I don't want to come across the wrong way. I think you have a very interesting point. I'm a fan of psychology and things like it.

Then you probably definitely know how easy it is to give in to that urge to jump on someone whose opinion you strongly disagree with, or to pile on to an argument you have a stake in. It's one of the reason threads get a lot of downvotes/upvotes -- someone makes an easy to agree/disagree with statement such as "ADCs are too powerful" or "The ban system is broken" and you get a lot of people agreeing or disagreeing pretty instantly. Because a more in-depth post on the topic doesn't have the same mass appeal, it's harder to get traction for legitimate discussion sometimes -- and this is a thing that isn't at all unique to the League community. This is especially true when many statements and posts on this board aren't as objective as I think the author would like them to be, which lends itself to discussion taking polarized sides (and results in the corresponding "pick your side" battles we sometimes see) more often than I personally would like.

IRight ArmIJul 19, 20182 votes

Absolutely. I see it all the time other places like youtube comments.

IRight ArmIJul 19, 20182 votes

This is just a general observation. Outliers of course always exist. There are threads that deserve their up votes and down votes.

IRight ArmIJul 19, 20182 votes

Change my mind. Go ahead.

ModThe DjinnJul 19, 20182 votes

[{quoted}](name=IRight ArmI,realm=NA,application-id=6heBIhQc,discussion-id=1VpIEyKM,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2018-07-19T16:14:42.426+0000)Change my mind. Go ahead.

Since we're on the subject, I'll point out that this is the sort of response that encourages downvotes, as the easy reading of this isn't "I am open to discussion" but rather "My mind is so set on this that I'm calling you out, punk." The former is evidence of a post in good faith, the latter is not.

The opening post here is similar, as it sets out a discussion of "this is how it is, and it's us vs. them" in a way rather reminiscent of a conspiracy theory. Compared to a statement of "I get frustrated with the boards because it seems like large groups of people upvote or downvote threads based on preconceptions rather than on content," I hope you can understand how yours seems much more like an accusation and an attack against players who may agree with Riot rather than like an invitation to have an actual discussion about how the board community functions.

IRight ArmIJul 19, 20182 votes

Thanks for the feedback.