Let me set the "new" scene: teams of highly-skilled agitators, planted viral marketers, and some of the most evangelical fans of a particular disc medium have painted themselves in opposing blue and red paint, waiting to hurl insults, threats, and accusations at anyone painted in the other color who dares speak out against their worshipped format. A third group of double agents, painted in purple, pretend to worship both idols (own both formats), but are really just double agents working for one team or the other. Their purple color, though, allows them to infiltrate the other team and attack without being retaliated upon quite as quickly. By claiming to worship both idols, they also believe themselves to be more holy than all of the other players.
Sound like fun? Well, I suppose it could be, in say a paintball or "Resistance" tournament, but on an online forum where many people go to have a civil discussion or to, God forbid, actually learn something, it's a travesty that this is allowed to go on. Anyone who doesn't feel like suiting up for war, and possibly needing to hire an armed contingent to protect them from post-side bombs, however, would do well to stay away. As of now, while Baghdad at least has a wall and a green zone, there is no safe space within the confines of the HD Media section of AVSForum.
The moderators of the forum, who should be the UN Peacekeeping forces, or at least the game's referees, have set an interesting "zero tolerance" policy -- that is, they have zero tolerance for anyone who worships the opposing idol. That's right, they have their side as well -- and, without saying too much -- the fact that many now call the site MSAVS should give you some idea which side most of them are on (that would be HD DVD... okay I told you).
Now then, that's not to say that there aren't people who post on AVS who aren't trying to clean it up, or provide correct and useful information, but they are few and far between. Having walked into the middle of the battle, they immediately find themselves under attack -- another civilian lost in the battle. If they survive the first round, they go on to join forces with one side or another. It is, in this environment, the only way to survive.
Personally, I've come to my senses. After attempting to post "information," (you know like the articles I post here under news) I found myself attacked by the red contingent, with the blue team coming in to my defense. Personally, although I like Blu-ray, I really didn't feel like playing the game, but that was of no matter. Rather quickly, any thread that says something positive about Blu-ray or negative about HD DVD gets attacked by an elite squad of 12-year old "OMG XBOX360 FTW!!!!!" posters, who immediately attack with inappropriate language, insults, and threats that quickly get the thread closed. I give them credit on this: using the bias of the mods to their advantage, they ruin any thread that says anything they don't like. The mods, rather than deleting the offending posts, delete the entire thread. I can only conclude that Carl Rove came up with this gameplan. It really is ingenious -- although it also amounts to a kind of information terrorism, whereby content is restricted to that which will not upset the mentally unstable "OMG XBOX360 FTW!!!!!" elite.
So, I leave AVS for now, though I will check back to laugh occasionally as the site disintegrates. Of course, if HD DVD dies, then there becomes a good chance that it will take AVSForum with it. Although I sorely miss the old days of discussing laserdisc players and audio receivers, this new incarnation of AVSForum I can live without.
R.I.P. -- AVS Forum (1993 - around 2005)
0 comments:
Post a Comment