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Why TGA is a happy place and is going to stay that way. NEEDED A BUMP AGAIN


Ben

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I LOVE WARHAMMER

It might be an obvious thing to say. But it’s true. It’s why I do what I do.

It why spend a massive percentage of my disposable income on my hobby. 

It’s why any free time I have (admittedly less over the last few years) is spent painting, playing, list building, reading and chatting Warhammer. 

The love of Warhammer is why I have podcasted about it for 10 years.  Its why I go to events, and also run them. Blood and Glory, Alliance, Destruction Derby and lots more.  

Loving Warhammer is why I started the Masters, and the rankings. 

Its why I have spent countless hours of my life chatting with people online from all around the world about almost anything related to warhammer.  (That 7th Harpy is the most important, (Those that know, know)

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More importantly, I LOVE THE WARHAMMER COMMUNITY

That’s why when I hang out with my friends, they are Warhammer friends. 

I drive to all around the UK to visit new places and meet new people to play warhammer with. I choose events because my mates are going. I been away from home  to play games on 2 days out of the 6 we are away.

I have been to the Ferrari museum at Modena, Italy  with my Warhammer mates.  I have sat in beer garden, of a closed bar, in a none discript city in Germany,  in the middle of the day, listening to a long and bad story, about a terrible tasting spirit with a bunch of guys I have never met before in my life, and it was one of the most fun times i've had.  Because they were Warhammer people.  

I have traveled to Chicago and spent 4 days in a hotel not even caring that i've never been to America before and might miss the chance to go sight seeing.  

I've had to run across a city in Switzerland to catch the last train at 1am because I was too busy talking to a bunch of Swedes and didn't know I was close to sleeping on the street outside the venue!

One of my oddest traditions is eating ice creams on snowy Saturday mornings while walking the streets of Darnel and reminiscing about DeeDaars. 

I've laughed and laughed so hard that i thought I would be sick, at the stupidest things said on an evening at a Warhammer event.  Again and again and again.  With lots of people in lots of places.  

I have a hundred and more stories like this.  All about the people who play warhammer.  

This is one of my wedding photos. Filled with Warhammer people.  

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So just to be clear... 

 I LOVE WARHAMMER AND THE PEOPLE WHO PLAY IT.  THEY ARE MY PEOPLE.

So when I see complaining about the thing I love it really brings me down. 

And when it’s relentless complaining over and over it puts me off wanting to spend time interacting with those people. Sometimes this means stop going to events, other times that means  stop chatting on forums and posting on social media. It stops being fun.

It actually stops me wanting to play any warhammer at all.  And that is really sad.  It's not just me that feels like this.  I know this because I talk to hundreds of people in the community.  

When I started TGA a few years ago it was to create a like minded community online. A safe haven in the sea of haters about the changes to Warhammer. (Sound familiar?)

A place for ‘Only The Faithful’ as it later became known. 

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Its seems that recently people are forgetting this. 

You might notice that this post says 'I' quite a bit, well TGA is my happy place. 

I built it to celebrate everything awesome about Warhammer. The game, the hobby, the people. 

I want to come here and chat about Warhammer, see awesome paint jobs and learn about people’s latest victory’s on the table (or crushing defeats!)

I want to hear about how the New to the hobby Dad and his 12 year old son who got him into the hobby are loving playing the game and can't wait to lean how the Dads Flesh eater courts can beat his sons Stormcast (Actual email I received from this forum.)  I want to see the hobby blog from the guy who is just learning painting, and the latest Golden Deamon run from a veteran painter.  I want to read about Chris Tomlin losing his mind over how bad, then how good then how bad Ironjawz are. 

I want to be blown away by the tactic and list combos posted in the depth of a 82 page Daughters of Khaine Thread that has had over 100000 views.  

What I don’t want to do is log in on a sunny bank holiday weekend and see 20 reports about bad attitudes, name calling and abusive behaviour. 

I understand that my hobby is not everyones hobby. Some people genuinely enjoy arguing and moaning online and if that’s your thing I wouldn’t dream of asking you to stop. But I will ask you to stop doing it here. 

I’ve asked this a few times in the past and the response is usually the same. ‘Bad Dice are GW fan boys. TGA is all rainbows and unicorns’ 

My reply to that is wholeheartedly YES!

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I wear my fanboy badge with pride and I love the Rainbows and Unicorns that we have cultivated here. You don’t see them often. 

There is a theory that “You're The Average Of The Five People You Spend The Most Time With” now I can’t say if this is true or not, but I do know that if you spend a lot of time listening to negative views and speaking with negative people then you end up becoming just like that yourself.  The opposite is also true. Spend your days talking to people who are motivated and excited about the hobby and it’s infectious. Amazingly so.  

Going forwards I don’t want to be seeing relentless negativity, arguing, name calling and I’ll the other nonsense that has been going on recently.  If someone was like this in person I would just stop talking to them. When people are like this on Twitter I mute or block them.  

Seeing as TGA is my happy place, and I am the boss here, it will be moderated and the people posting it will be asked to find another community to enjoy. 

From what I understand there are a few places online that thrive on just this outlook on the game.  You will be very, very welcome there. 

If this angers you, remember Wheatons Law.  Then ask yourself i you are falling foul of it.  Its a simple reality check that everyone should do.

For those that want a place to talk Warhammer and celebrate everything awesome about this hobby you are welcome to join me in my happy place. 

Age of Sigmar 2 is coming ad emotions are running really high at the moment.  I would urge people to remember that all of this has happened before and will happen again.

When Warhammer Fantasy change to Age of Sigmar the community continued.  We got on with it, played warhammer and made great things happen.  Off the back of that I would say that we are in the best times ever for a Warhammer player.  When AoS2 lands, no matter how good or bad that turns out to be the players will continue to play.    

I cant wait to move this fantastic community forward into AoS2! 

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I moved to Nottingham in part because Warhammer World is here... commitment!

In all honesty this is the best Sigmar related forum going (I’ve checked) hence why I idle here in my spare time and subject you all to my awesome yet relentless ideas.

 

cheers for keeping it positive!

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Indeed, I love reading all of the rumour threads etc, and the awesome painting blogs.

TGA is a really awesome site right now, and I hope it stays that way. 


Big changes in AoS are a reason to celebrate the good things that might be to come, not a cause for woe :) 

 

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1 minute ago, blueshirtman said:

So not to break any rules in the future, how does one voice being unhappy about something now, or is that not allowed?

The best thing is to wait until it happens, in context, before complaining about it.  Meaning pretty much anything from AoS2, up until it actually comes out next month.  And even then, think twice about it (there are some SCORCHING hot takes from last time around that turned out to be completely wrong).

And if you can't resist, there are other places to do it...

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10 minutes ago, blueshirtman said:

So not to break any rules in the future, how does one voice being unhappy about something now, or is that not allowed?

I thought about addressing this in the post, but then I thought it not needed. 

Its not about agreeing or disagreeing. It’s about the way you present your agreement or disagreement. 

Remember Wheatons Law. 

If you hate that there are 17 Stormcast releases in 5 months do you really need to post that on a forum. 

If you are genuinely angry enough about yet another chamber being opened that you feel the need to rage about it on a forum, posting. Will only make you angrier.

how about making a suggestion on what could be done instead. Which faction need a boost and what your would like to see released. A constructive discussion about it. 

 

The reason 4Chan is horrible is because the rampant complaining is not reigned in by anyone 

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12 minutes ago, blueshirtman said:

So not to break any rules in the future, how does one voice being unhappy about something now, or is that not allowed?

Just don't be a ****** about it. Your a smart person, I am sure you get the intent of Ben's message. Ben is not calling out being critical. He is calling out relentless negativity, name calling and bitterness.

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I don't know you personally Ben, but I love the community that you have created here. It embodies the best of the hobby and is a true celebration of Warhammer. I have enjoyed being a contributor and look forward to the AOS2 fun times ahead.

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18 minutes ago, blueshirtman said:

So not to break any rules in the future, how does one voice being unhappy about something now, or is that not allowed?

Just follow these simple rules....

1) Has said thing I’m unhappy about happened? Or do I have all the facts about said thing I’m unhappy about? 

If answer is yes, go onto step 2

2) is what I’m going to say be constructive criticism?

I agree 100% with what @Ben has said. I love Warhammer and it’s a big part of my life. If it wasn’t for Warhammer I wouldn’t have met my wife (in a round about way). This forum is also my happy place when I don’t get chance to play due to work or being a dad. I’m also a bit grumpy that over this Bank Holiday weekend in the UK I’ve been reviewing reports about posts on this forum. 

At the end of the day, Warhammer Age of Sigmar is a brilliant game and hobby. I have met so many great people over the years due to it and it give me great pleasure playing it and painting and assembling the kits from GW. 

So basically, this forum is great, Age of Sigmar is brilliant and I can’t wait for the second edition!

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Well said @Ben! This is a haven of a community site almost unheard of on the Internet.  I hope it stays this way as it is the awesome community here with the great dialogue and exchange of ideas that got me into AoS in the first place. Keep it up your doing a great job!

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Thanks for reinforcing this, Ben. I'm a father of 3 nurglings and don't the time or appetite for outright negativity or drama. The vibe and friendliness of TGA is precisely why I come here. It's unique and should be preserved.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Ben said:

how about making a suggestion on what could be done instead. Which faction need a boost and what your would like to see released. A constructive discussion about it. 

I think I will limit myself to reading posts then, and asking questions about rules etc. I don't get the whole don't being a ****** part, I assume it is some sort of interaction thing or something, and I am really bad with that.

 

1 hour ago, Gaz Taylor said:

1) Has said thing I’m unhappy about happened? Or do I have all the facts about said thing I’m unhappy about? 

If answer is yes, go onto step 2

2) is what I’m going to say be constructive criticism?

Ok, I don't think this would work for me. Even with medicin am in a unhappy state 24/7. Is a question like "how do people think rule X will shape Y" a constructive one, I think it is, but am never sure about stuff like that.

 

1 hour ago, Greyshadow said:

Your a smart person, I am sure you get the intent of Ben's message. Ben is not calling out being critical. He is calling out relentless negativity, name calling and bitterness.

I actually do not get the post, but I see this is a moderator rules post, and I wouldn't want to get kicked out. The not being negative part seems hard to do, as is the bitterness. Name calling I never really understood how it works, I know that calling peoples parents is not ok, as are any vulgar terms, but I think that is covered by the forum rules.

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1 hour ago, blueshirtman said:

So not to break any rules in the future, how does one voice being unhappy about something now, or is that not allowed?

I mean, you can voice your discontent. But do so on a nuanced and level headed manner. I know, it's not simple, I have failed to do so quite a few (possibly too many ) times but I honestly think it's possible to say things in a polite and calm manner in a way that you get your points across without the need of (looking into a few of my past postings across the net) try to cleave wide open your verbal "opponent".

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yeah, I technicly go to therapy to learn what polite means, but there are so many rules, and they change all the time, they are different at school, different when you talk to different people, or when it is in a group. someone can make a joke, and everything thinks it is funny, and if you say the same thing you change school. I sometimes think it would be easier if people just said what they want, probablly not better though.

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TGA does have a very welcoming community, which is great for discussion as it means no one is worried that they'll be ganked by thousands of angry and abusive replies for posting an option (this should be the standard, but it's a luxury on the internet). As such, I agree with the idea to moderate unhelpful toxicity on the forum. 

However, for reference, how much 'complaining' is considered below the toxicity line? For example, if my army got a very disappointing battletome (it made the army unfun to play and didn't even have cool lore or art - truly a terrible tome), I understand it wouldn't be proper to say "I hate GW and I hope their headquarters set on fire - would serve them right for writing this drivel", but would it be considered proper to start a topic along the lines of "I think X tome is disappointing, here's why, and here's what I think could have gone better"? I know some would consider the latter to be whining - after all, you can't change the tome now that it's out - whereas others may find it useful to vent and perhaps suggest ideas that they could send to GW in hopes of a fix. 

I personally think constructive criticism is the only way to have an engaging and healthy community, providing it is actually constructive. That said, I do understand that some people would prefer that criticism was kept to a minimum (understandable as sometimes too much criticism can turn a community sour).

Thanks for your time as a moderator, by the way! I imagine that gets pretty stressful when a new edition is on the horizon. 

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By the same token, I'd say that often some people do need to realise that leaping down the throats of people who DO post genuinely constructive, well-measured criticism just because they've voicing an issue with some facet of the game doesn't help contribute to the atmosphere either. 
 

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