Dear Riot. Read this BEFORE the next time you post in a thread.

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So you'd rather silence than someone at Riot taking notice and giving insight even if their job isn't directly involved with the discussion?

That makes no sense...

It makes perfect sense. When you break it all down: 1. Riot Accounts are there to communicate to the community as a Rioter (Read: as a Rioter i.e. On behalf of Riot); 2. If you're not responding in a professional capacity (i.e. you have no qualification or authority to comment on a particular topic) you shouldn't be/aren't communicating as a Rioter - you're responding as an individual; 3. If 2 is true, then you should be posting as an individual (i.e. from a private/non-Riot account).

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Hey Red Arrow,

You bring up an interesting discussion. How can Rioters engage on the forums and provide meaningful interaction, despite not being a subject matter expertise? Rioters often use that caveat at the start or end of their post so that their words won't be taken gospel or a promise because they don't want to speak for another person/team and accidentally give incorrect info.

Of course the other option, like you pointed out, is to just stay silent. That is certainly one approach, but a lot of us naturally enjoy engaging with players (we're players too!), and I think there is value in it despite not always have the definitive answer to the question at hand.

Just my 2 cents! What are you thoughts?

-Terra

My thought is that if you want to get into those sort of discussions with players, you should really jump onto a non-Riot account as stated in my reply to CheckMyDoubles' post. I don't know what department you belong to, but (for example) if you're qualified and authorized to comment on Game Sound, anything you respond with ON A RIOT ACCOUNT will be considered Official and made on Riot's behalf unless otherwise stated. If you comment on (for example) a thread about the State of, say, Poppy's kit (i.e. Balance & Gameplay) as a Riot member qualified and authorized to comment on Game Sound, your response is as valid and official as any other player's. In this second scenario, it's not appropriate or justified for you to comment on a Riot account because your response IS NOT official and IS NOT made on Riot's behalf.

Isn't this what Riot wanted when they made these new boards? It's my belief that all of these, frankly, unnecessary changes to the forums were done in vain because you wanted us to post our threads in the appropriate board section, yet you Rioters won't stick to your appropriate board sections.

I used the old forums (that you felt the need to abandon) since 2012 when I started playing League of Legends, and as disheartening as it was to see them go, it's even more disappointing to see that these new ones do not even fulfill what they were supposed to achieve.

It's as simple as this - if you want to post something as a player, get on your own account; if you want to post something as a Rioter in your relevant section(s) of the boards, THEN and ONLY THEN should you get on your Riot account.

EDIT 1: And it was nice of you to twist (or misinterpret) my original argument. "How can Rioters engage on the forums and provide meaningful interaction, despite not being a subject matter expert?" This must be rhetorical, right? You can't. If I want to discuss Gameplay and Balance socially, I'll jump onto my TeamSpeak 3 server and talk to all of my Platinum and Diamond+ friends who can give me credible feedback on my opinions. If I'm posting on the forums, it's because I want a Rioter to see my argument and let me plead my case to them as best I can. I post here so that I can have a say and make a real impact on the game I've played religiously for 3 years.

This interaction becomes far less meaningful when my 1000-word threads about the state of my favorite champions are met with responses from a f*cking (excuse my language) Senior Concept Designer because all the other Rioters are bogged down in game/joke/meme (you get the picture) threads and QQ (aka 'Blind Rage') threads with no real substance that these new boards were meant to discourage.

EDIT 2: Even now, I realize I'm talking to an Associate Software Engineer who, most likely, has no real say on this matter. I mean, really, the best 'RiotTerra' can do here is plead this case on my behalf/refer this thread to the guy who is supposed to be browsing this section of the Boards in the first place.

You were supposed to answer "I'm not a community rep, but..."

How can Rioters engage on the forums and provide meaningful interaction, despite not being a subject matter expertise?

To be perfectly honest, I think it comes down to two very broad concepts:

• Individual Rioters need to be able to quickly and efficiently zero in on content that applies to their areas of focus
• The community needs to be able to quickly and efficiently sort through content that applies to their interests

Neither of these things really seems to be happening, and it's contributing to the gap between community perception and Riot perception. There are a ton of different ways to address these problems, here are some examples:

• Individual Rioters need to be able to quickly and efficiently zero in on content that applies to their areas of focus

• Specific Rioters devoted to information exchange

• Improved internal tools

• Riot-sponsored community projects to allow content to more easily be surfaced

• More overall Rioter posting and attention paid to the platform

• Options to sort content based on interests/focuses

• The community needs to be able to quickly and efficiently sort through content that applies to their interests

• Boards design that allows for selecting certain boards to view

• Significant Red Tracker improvements

Of course the other option, like you pointed out, is to just stay silent.

In my opinion, this is not an option at all if Riot wishes to stay relevant with the community. Every time there is a significant period of low communication, people's concerns build up. Whenever a Rioter attempts to communicate, the community's pent-up frustrations and/or desire to communicate all get released in a massive torrent.

The only real way to solve this, in my mind, is to ensure that communication is frequent and consistent. Silence is not an option.