General Discussion Is Gone

I don't know if this is a waste of time, since I doubt DTG CMs are reading this forum - from following this forum you would barely realize there are CMs still working for DTG. I have abandoned Discord, not just for this product, but all others I use (funny nobody has commented on the irony of Discord's name), for the reasons stated elsewhere in this thread. Despite the chaos and whingeing I have learned more from contributions to the General Discussion thread than anywhere. Just for information, I am somewhat older (and probably more battered) than Old Vern. I am a PC user and strangely, if you go to the Troubleshooting section, by far the majority of posts refer to PS5 and secondly Xbox - few to PC. My patience with DTG is exhausted so I suspect this will be my farewell to the DTG forums and maybe lead to a redirection of my attention to other sims, such as Xplane, my first love.
Bye folks and thanks for the fish.

 

yawn, more corporate hogwash. why persist with making these changes when the community have made their feelings clear?

 

this isn’t directed at you as you are a spokesperson.

if you don’t have the capacity to moderate the forums, then why even have it in the first place? If community managers, don’t have the resources to properly manage a forum, and speak properly with the community on certain matters, something has gone VERY WRONG

if you want more moderation, employ members of the community to mod it too.

if DTG goes ahead with these changes, I guarantee you, the forums WILL be less active.

the discussion thread is a core part of these forums, for discussing any and everything of train sim world. It is BY FAR, the most popular subthread here.

DTG, can we PLEASE have some kind of transparency, as to WHY the discussion subforum, is being canned?

Let me bring you the definition of a forum:


If a forum, loses its ability to discuss on matters within the community, then it’s pointless.

As a company, if you want to go ahead with these changes, we aren’t going to stop you, we don’t have the authority or the numbers. However, the consequences of this, will cripple these forums.

we are warning you.


There is still time to turn back on this decision.

 

For everyone saying the are taking away our right to critisize, praise or communicate.

Does it really? General discussion and off topic are redundant.

Think about it, for every DLC there is a preview article, a release article and then a feedback thread.

Thats 3 places you are able to discuss, praise and critisize as you wish in the news and feedback sections. I'm sure the 3ps will still be active there as they already are.

Anything about DLC in the general discussion is just 1 more thread repeated anyways.

It would be easier to aquire feedback then to look at the 3 threads they post plus how many other threads people make in the General discussion as well.

 

I beg to differ…you banned me recently for no valid reason! Once the ban was over I saw a message from you informing me that I was banned for being ‘threatening, abusive & trolling’. No evidence was produced by you or other CM’s to support this at all and to add insult to injury you didn’t even have the courtesy to answer a DM I sent you!
Everything is lip service from the CM’s!

 

Let me correct it for you.

general discussion and off topic are important and key to communication in the community.

 

Respectfully, it's clear that you guys don't want a community forum with discussion amongst members of the community. Rather you want a curated space where members give feedback and suggestions as long as they fit a certain mold that DTG deem fit. And this corporate speak about efficiency doesn't fool anyone. "streamlining our processes to eliminate inefficiencies" is the same talk that managers give to employees as they justify laying them off en masse. Everyone knows the real reason is money. In a similar vein, the real reason you guys are shutting down the free discussion in the forums is because DTG doesn't want negativity, and my guess is a certain other new train sim game competitor as well as fear of impending backslash to a TSW 7 announcement are playing a large role in the timing of this.

 

Summed up beautifully!

 

that just factually isn’t true. general discussion is far and away the most active sub forum, the most helpful and the most interesting one to read through. and off topic is also important, not for tsw but for the community in general. not everyone comes here purely to discuss tsw, its so important for us to have an area where we can discuss anything and everything else- society yearns for variety and hobbies, and dtg taking that privilege away from us is not acceptable under any circumstances

 

Were you upset when Eastenders got cancelled?

All General discussion has become is just a big soap opera anyways.

Why can't you type the same stuff in the news, suggestions and feedback sections? Are you afraid?

 

DTG have already said they want the content in those subforums to be curated. We likely won't even be allowed to be original posters in the feedback and news subforums. Plus, random casual discussion about TSW doesn't fit in any of those sections. Take one of the most popular threads in the general discussion about awesome TSW service mode runs. That doesn't fit into news, suggestions, or feedback.

 

And also has the most false information on it as well.

So it's just the National Enquirer or the Sun of the forums.

But you know thats really important stuff that can't be put anywhere else on yhe forums.

What would you like to see in TSW7 (suggestions) Blurry textures, bugs and issues (feedback) praise (Feedback or News)

There is a place for everything already except gossip.

So good riddance.

 

I'm sorry Jan, nothing personal, but I really don't buy that. At least not most of it. I don't think many here do. It sounds too much like, and I'm not trying to be intentionally rude here, but "corporate dog on a leech" talk. The General sub-forum is just about the only place here where you can go and have a conversation / get help / just "hang out" with people. I drive trains, quite a bit, too much if you ask my wife, but at the end of the day, no matter how fun it is, it's a tad lonely. So coming here, engaging with the community in posting or just lurking / reading gives a feeling of, I dunno, belonging / comradery, being with peers? I'm sure you know what I mean.

Most of us, at least a good portion, want the "train thing" to be more than to just sit by yourself at your desk, "driving back and forth". Most of us want more than that. We love trains, passionately. We want to drive them in your simulator. We are all here throwing our hard earned cash at you to do so. Don't "shoo" us away. We watch Youtube videos about trains. We read about trains. The history of them, how they work, looking at old routes from bygone eras, trying to learn things, understand things. We try to learn all the different intricacies such as different countries signaling etc. We might go see trains real life when the opportunity arises. I know I have, and going to go see the BigBoy, again, pretty soon. We just love, trains. For many, me among them, no one else in the immediate sphere, spouses / family / friends, could care less about trains if they tried. That's where forums like these, the GENERAL SECTIONS, are so important.

When you are here, you are with your peers. You are with like minded people. You are part of a community deeply passionate about the same thing as you are. This is important. Important for all parties involved. Both us, the community, and for you DTG. Please, for the love of everything holy, please (again) don't take this away from us.

I'm all for the forums being more hard core "policed", if that's what it takes. Meaning really rude behavior, personal attacks of any kind (especially against staff members), or posts just made to "stirr up trouble". These type of behaviors, we don't need, we don't want, and I for one, wouldn't mind seeing the ban hammer fall a little more often (just don't too often). Also, like others here has mentioned before me and my somewhat long-winded rant here, enlist a few forum members as help keeping things under control. There are some here, I'm sure, long time members who could be trusted with such a task, and would step forward and accept it.

Anywho, sorry for the somewhat long-winded rant. I had to get it off my chest too.

 

From dtg_jan comments above I receive the impression that DTG are tone-deaf. We are obviously not buying the hogwash about saving time - volunteer moderators are the obvious alternative The General Discussion section was never just about feedback or troubleshooting, but DTG has obviously not realized that more information was always available via General Discussion than Troubleshooting - just look at Troubleshooting - most of the posts do not receive a single response. Feedback I am sure is very useful to DTG, but more or less useless to users looking for solutions. DTG needs to remember the first rule of customer service - most dissatisfied customers do not persist with complaints after the first negative or non-existent response - they just walk away. In my case, probably not that, but if all I do is run TSW, I will ignore any reference to new releases and not get my interest drawn by posts in this forum - from where I usually get sucked into a new purchase. Please heed MrSouthernDriver warning.

 

So because you can't be the orginal poster is an issue.

So it is a cred and status thing.

Now I get it.

So glad they are going.

 

I've seen the same thing happen on another railroad simulation forum, which has become practically useless.
The administrators even threaten members (via private warnings) with possible permanent bans.
The result is that many members have left, almost no one wants to post anymore, and the forum has become almost completely silent or filled with banal and rhetorical messages.
It looks like a concentration camp...

 

Sure we can type the same stuff in other forums... but then it would be off-topic for that subforum. I feel the real question is why should we.have to... but the decision seems to have been made and so I will adjust.

The General Discussions sub forum has been like a pair of comfortable old shoes - nice to slip into - you knew what you were getting into and found enjoyment in many of the discussions. Not going to through the tous out of the pram over this - will look for alternatives as I always do, just a shame one of the most prolific sub-threads of the forum since its inception is going away. You might have found General Discussions to be a soap opera, but topics JetWash 's mod, Awsome Rums, the Steam Challenges and probably several dozen others have added greatly to my understanding and enjoyment. If those appear in other sub-forums after this one is closed great - If I can find them I will follow them

 

What a disgraceful and disastrous decision! The problem with this decision is that it lacks the necessary justification. PR-speak about "healthier, more manageable spaces" is not sufficient justification for replacing such an oft-used discussion space.

The state of the core game is a dumpster fire right now. How is removing one of the primary TSW community discussion spaces even on the radar? What is the status of the PS5 profile corruption investigation? Why have your most invested PS5 players (thousands of hours played) been waiting for 6 months for an update on this and heard nothing?

The brain-dead decision to remove the General forum and the state of the core game both point to a serious lack of leadership and accountability. This lack of leadership and accountability has been a recurring theme since I have been playing the game and following the community (2022). For those of us outside of DTG HQ, we are left with the impression that each TSW iteration is just another attempt to squeeze as many dollars out of the train sim community as possible, ethics and customer service be damned. I came here to drive trains. I didn't expect to be harkened back to childhood stories about greed and deals with the devil.

DTG, you guys need help. From the state of the core game to the poor interactions with the community, you guys need help. Speaking as someone who just wants to drive trains and enjoy the game, I hope you guys get the help that you clearly need.

 

This has started on this Forum too. I was contacted before my ban to say any more indiscretions were likely to mean a permanent ban…helluva way to treat customers and community!

 

Are you now going to ban us from posting our opinions here?
Or are you going to delete all the posts after yours, just because you’ve told us to stop?

 

This defies all logic.

 

Oh please tell me that depressing pile of rubbish is finally ending once and for all or do you mean an episode or two moved because of the World Cup?

 

Sorry but this sounds like corporate gobbledygook, see my previous post in this thread.

How many posts get made on these forums everyday from how many users? Are we talking thousands of posts each day from thousands of users? No.

Hundreds of posts from hundreds of users? No.

But you're saying that with the amount of community managers, senior community managers, community and social media managers, directors of community and marketing etc that dovetail employ you can't find time to moderate a forum which generates a small number of posts each day?

When are you also going to delete the general discussion and off topic forum from the TSC forum seeing as you're all too busy doing whatever to moderate a few posts in the TSW forum?

 

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You are we all know that there wont be a community left for you to listen to the feedback from. Once its gone its gone and this is a 1 way road with no undo button and once your ripped the community apart its dead Dave, its all dead Dave.

But than I strongly believe thats the end game DTG wanted from the moment the discord server was lauched.

You all told us that we was wrong and the forums would remain but actions speak louder than words and it looks like we've been proven right after all

The final curtain is drawing.

 

I may have my grudges against this and DTG. But I feel like if we continue being too harsh, it could get locked, which gives them WAY more excuse to go ahead with this. We should vote as a community and tone criticisms down, we don’t want to border into insults.

this is a frustrating situation, but any further than this, could push it too far.

 

Guys, let's not attack ordinary employees. It's not their decision. And whoever made it is unlikely to come to us and explain themselves.

 

Here's my two cents on the whole "Feedback Forum" thing...

The primary public-facing ticket system is just awful. I tried using it a couple times, and all you get is a generic automated "Hi! We're closing the ticket because we have so many that come through on any given day, but rest assured it will probably get viewed and added to a database that may or may not get looked at." No follow-up, no assurances, nothing... just absolutely pointless, you are just writing to what's essentially an unmonitored inbox.

The Feedback Forums is a whole other can of worms. I actually used to contribute to posts noting constructive feedback and bugs, even going as far as to take time to capture in-game footage of the various issues I found. I stopped doing this after I started reading patch reports that wouldn't even mention some of the more glaring issues I brought up, and wouldn't even get so much as a "Cool, thanks!" from staff. If my efforts in trying to restore some quality to the game aren't appreciated, why should I bother? There's a beta team being paid to (supposedly) catch these bugs pre-release, yet I'm the one paying for the privilege to have my concerns ignored over a bugged product? I've also noticed an increasing regularity over what I would call "community favorites", members who DTG seem to listen to and value their input over other community members. It's all just so damn disheartening...

To cull the sections of the community that legitimately make this a community, all in the name of efficiency? That is just corporate greed and censorship at its finest, and I cannot fully express just how disgusted I am with this decision. Whomever spearheaded this choice ought to be truly ashamed with themselves, and realize that alienating a community that supports the game even with its many negative aspects is only going to result in a PR, and ultimately, financial loss.

 

it’s not CMs we should be pointing at directly, it’s who’s in charge.

 

harry, alex, jan, it’s been about 12 hours since the announcement was made and the community have spoken. our feelings are clear, this is undoubtedly the biggest consensus i’ve ever seen on this forum. we know that you didn’t make the decision, but you have the power to do something about it so please consider everything that’s been said in this thread

 

Do what you need to do….

 

If discussions on a forum are a way you hang out.

Then please time to go outside.

By the way the unofficial Train Sim Community is making fun of you guys who are upset.

 

that’s fine, they don’t come here and we don’t go there. maybe you should head over to their place seeing as you’re the only person on this thread who’s agreeing with dtg

 

My post above wasn't directed at Jan or any of the CMs, it was to point out that the excuse they've given for closing these forums don't hold any water.

 

Oh no. How dare people get angry about a stupid brain dead decision that stifles discussion

Quite frankly don't care what someone on discrap says either. Horrid app it is

 

The TSC discord server have the right to speak about this situation.


Was there really any need to escalate this situation further than to drag a discord server into this? This is now a cross platform clash.

I’ve given my point, but we mustn’t drag it

 

The irony here is so strong I might have to avoid magnets for a while after reading it. As if Discord is any better for "online nerds". In many ways, it's far worse, and not to mention far more degenerate.

 

I bey they'd get peed off if it got announced a bunch of their discord channels were closing for no good reason limiting their discussions

 

discord and the forums both have their cons.


But please, don’t turn this into a full blown war between the two. As someone who is in both this discord and these forums.

we mustn’t hold grudges against eachother, we should be sharing opinions and valuing others.

 

I think there's only one person on this thread who should "Then please time to go outside" (does that even make sense ?)

I'm seeing plenty of valid, and constructive criticism on this thread - and others. But at the same time I'm also seeing somebody, akin to a very petulant child jumping up at the back of the class, shouting "look at me, look at me, I'm different".

You've made your opinion quite clear, on numerous occasions. Maybe you should think about taking some of your own advice now.

 

RIP General Discussion