To address some of your more major points:
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People can report for anything, but if it's a false report, then they'll have their report weight dropped, and if they make/have a habit of making false reports then they'll actually be banned for doing so.
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There's trash talking and then there's being a jerk. From Ulanopo's Knowledge Base:
Trash talk is part of all competitive sports. It happens all the time in the pros.
Yes and no. Yes, trash talk occurs, but it has definite limits. Most of the things that are punished in game (racial, ethnic and homophobic slurs, sexism, etc.) would also earn you a hefty fine in professional sports.
A Tumblr List of NBA Fines (http://nbafines.tumblr.com/)
(My personal favorite on that site is this indefinite suspension (http://nbafines.tumblr.com/post/1010368028/3-12-96-the-nba-suspended-mahmoud-abdul-rauf-den), simply for refusing to stand during the National Anthem.)
A List of NFL Fines for Taunting (http://www.spotrac.com/fines-tracker/nfl/all-years/fines/taunting/)
NBC Article on Fines Agreed to by the NFLPA (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/01/bizarrely-specific-nfl-fines-come-from-agreed-league-union-schedule/)
"Excessive profanity or other unsportsmanlike conduct triggers a minimum fine of $10,500."
NHL Office of Player Safety (http://www.nhl.com/ice/eventhome.htm?location=/playersafety)
Brendan Shanahan is the ****ing Bad Santa of the NHL. Did you know that his Office of Player Safety watches every minute of every game, from multiple angles? He sees and hears EVERYTHING, including swearing.
... and the grand finale!
Marge Schott (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_Schott), who was forced out of ownership of the Cincinnati Reds for racist comments and pro-Nazi sentiments.
3: Gameplay toxicity is much harder to track than verbal toxicity is, but rest assured that those who do troll via gameplay are in fact banned when Riot does end up catching up to them.
4: You claim that the majority of people who report are "younger kids". This is just simply not true. It doesn't take a certified genius to know that being a jerk of any kind is unacceptable anywhere, and that if all you care about is being a jerk and harassing those that disagree with you then you will be punished for it, guaranteed.
From the Tribunal FAQ:
What's the point of having a language filter if I can get banned for 'adult' language?
We aren't out to punish players who use adult language; in fact, very few players are ever banned for saying stuff like "f***, I missed that skill shot" or "damn, fing close game!" However, the language filter is not an excuse to verbally abuse someone in the game. When you verbally abuse or harass someone by calling them "fing *****" or "ngger noob", that's when you've crossed the line and will be punished by the Tribunal. I've said this before and I'll say it again, we aren't trying to clean online games of adult language; we're trying to reform or get rid of jerks who like to verbally abuse and harass other players.
Will the Tribunal change the “attitude” of players?
We know that there is a small percentage of players that will never change their attitudes, and will always be toxic in every single game they play. The Tribunal is designed to remove these players from the game and will continue to ban them aggressively until they stop playing League of Legends.
However, there is also a percentage of players that currently behave poorly, but with the Reform Cards from the Tribunal will learn what they need to change to avoid being punished by the Tribunal. In NA and EU, up to 50% of players that are punished actually change their behaviors because of the Reform Cards and are not punished again. I am hopeful that the Taiwan community can show even bigger improvement and together make even bigger changes in the Taiwan community.
From Understanding the Tribunal:
5) Low skill players should be banned from the game! The Tribunal should only ban Leavers/AFK and intentional feeders, those are the only types of players that really ruin games!
a) No. Just no. Jerks ruin games. League of Legends is for everyone whether they are 500 Elo or 2500 Elo. It's not a game for jerks.
From Ulanopo's Knowledge Base:
People who report are simply being oversensitive. The mute button exists for a reason.
Lets start with the Riot quote on this (link (http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?p=30696571#post30696571)):
Why is verbal abuse punishable if there is a mute button/language filter?
Players shouldnt need to rely on features like the mute button or language filter to engage with other players in positive ways. When a player verbally abuses another player and forces him to use the mute button, they have already created a negative experience for that player.
Simply put, Riot says no. You can scream and cry all you want, but it is their house and their rules.
With that out of the way, I think the topic deserves some further discussion. The theory is that, if people resolved to care less, then they would be happier. I often refer to this as Argument from Stoicism and I think it is a fairly weak philosophy because it places the burden on the person being expected to endure the behavior rather than the person exhibiting the behavior. You should be able to handle it is just a flimsy excuse for being a bully or a jerk. I have to be the bigger man so that you can do whatever you want? That hardly seems fair.
There is also the issue of how I spend my limited free time. Like most people, I am constantly required to make value judgments between the different forms of entertainment that are available to me and, let's be honest, we live in an age of nearly limitless entertainment options. If I'm having a bad day in League, I can just fire up Steam and play a whole bunch of games that don't require me to put up with someone's BS.
This is not an issue of weakness or thin-skin; it's a question of choosing activities that don't leave me feeling frustrated and angry. Too many of those experiences and I'll just find something else to do. Riot knows this.
EDITED 18 JULY 2014
If you kids report and punish things like this, youre going to be in trouble when you get out in the real world.
This is a subset of the oversensitivity argument, but I feel it warrants separate treatment.
You're making the highly unwarranted assumption that the people who punish for "noob" lack real-world experiences. If you were to ask the TBI regulars, you would find that almost all of us are at least in their late 20's, if not significantly older. Most of us have at least undergraduate degrees. So, this idea that we're all naive little children is more than a little silly.
Also, we know that professional players dislike people who spend their time typing because math. Not only are the report rates for the highest tiers not significantly lower than anywhere else (this from Lyte), but the pros know how that kind of behavior affects play. Someone who is on tilt is throwing the game just as much as the person who is playing poorly.
The truth of the matter is that the loose cannons end up having their misbehavior overshadow their skill. Look at Dennis Rodman. There has never been a better rebounder. Ever. But his legacy is not that he was basically a human vacuum. No, it's that he was out of control, both on and off the court.
In short, this is a stupid argument if you know anything about the people who are reporting and punishing you.
I dont think that people should be punished for speech. Other things, like feeding, are much more disruptive.
Im not going to tell you that your opinion is wrong, but you should know that neither Riot nor the majority of the community agrees with you. This is evidenced by the fact that the community has always consistently punished verbal toxicity. There may be some minor disagreement over certain words and phrases, but the overwhelming consensus is that it isnt welcome here.
Also, you arent ever going to get a pass on X because Y is worse. Well still punish you all day for ANY toxicity. Get used to it.
Ok.