Hey all. So, I have some thoughts on this. As is often the case, I think everyone has an understandable point, but is somewhat wrong--as is often the case in arguments!
I do understand the sentiment behind duck's post. While jokes and one-liners are fun, and we should definitely have them, we don't want to disincentivize serious Dominion analysis (I know, I know, says the guy who gets rich off Scout memes). And a one-liner, slightly dismissive in tone, as the first post after the analysis... well, it's just a tad off-putting. Not deliberately of course. Again, as is often the case, dondon seems to not have realized it could be taken that way, and didn't mean to be dismissive. I think if it had not been the first reply, or if it had been prefaced with "nice work, but..." and then followed with a
it would have come off totally different. Which is not to say, "This is how you must post" at ALL, just like an example.
So, while I understand why duck was perturbed, I do think his meme is a bit of an overreaction to that, and could create additional hurt feelings. So, too, his throwaway line about WW. And again, if I'm taking duck's sentiment here and giving the more polite version, I think he's saying that WW tends to come off authoritatively. I think many of us--most of us?--believe this authority is considerably well earned. I do also believe that WW is actually incredibly humble... if you watch his videos, he is quick to point out flaws in his own strategy and doesn't automatially attirbute his losses to shuffle luck. He also doesn't rage when he gets bad luck. Really, I do think he's a brilliant and classy Dominion player. But, you know, everyone can come off at times less polished than they intend to, because it's the internet, so while I understand what might cause duck to say this, I do think he went too far But, hey, he apologized--great.
I am a moderator of the Forum Games sub-forum, and I think a lot of the lessons we've learned playing mafia with civility are applicable here. I even wrote a Civility Pledge, which I invite everyone to check out:
http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=7695.0The most important thing--and this is important here, and for all forum interactions--is to assume the best intentions of the other person. That's it. If you do that, hopefully, you can stop yourself from escalating, either inadvertently or deliberately.
I think these discussions are worthwhile to have--arguing on the internet is much different than real life, because tone is so hard to convey. And we've never met each other, we can't learn from each other's social cues. Like Eevee, for instance, I have met. We hung out for a few days earlier this year. So, when he PMs me, "You are so wrong about Adventurer, it's not that bad!" I can answer back, "Eevee, are all Finnish so misguided, or just the Electric-types?" and it's not offensive because we have this real life knowledge of each other. With people you've never met, more caution is necessary, and again, assume the best intentions of the other person.