Recent Forum Tone Issues (Please Read)

[Jake]

Hi All!

Thankfully this kind of post has never been required in the past, and we are hoping that it will not be required again in the near future.

Recently, we on the moderation team have noticed an uptick of posts or replies to posts that fall outside of the friendly spirit that we aim to maintain here on the forums. It is likely that there are many users that have noticed this as well and are possibly concerned about it. We are not calling anybody specifically out for this, and attribute much of it to Bunpro beginning to reach a wider audience, which naturally attracts a broader range of personalities and viewpoints.

For the longest time, the Bunpro community forums has been an extremely inclusive environment, and we want to keep it that way. That is why we have decided to put up this simple post to highlight the fact that we have noticed the change in tone, and that we will continue doing our best to moderate it and return the forums to a friendly and helpful environment as quickly as possible.

In conjunction with this, we kindly ask that everyone feel free to flag any posts or replies that they feel fall under the category of ill-intended sarcasm, unhelpfulness, baiting, victimizing, mocking, or anything even remotely close. While we fully defend everyone’s right to put their opinions forward, we also ask that all users do this in a polite and respectful way.

We hope you are all having a fantastic week, and look forward to the forums returning swiftly to the most inclusive Japanese learning space available for people of all skill levels and walks of life

[BreadmanNin]

Sorry everyone, there might have been one moment in the past where I posted something a slight bit combative. I hope it didn’t make anyone feel uncomfortable. The Bunpro forums feel to me like a lovely place full of supportive energy, and I’d love to keep using it to learn together with everyone.

[FubuMiOkaKoro]

It’s clear the users in that thread took offence to the way I expressed myself while making my point. I apologize to those made uncomfortable by reading the exchanges. If I stay active on this forum I will simply never touch on that topic ever again.
I will always proudly stand up as an advocate for human teachers, because they are the backbone of all education, but I will reflect more carefully on the way I convey my thoughts in writing going forward from this.

[Asher]

There have been quite a few threads recently with themes that fall under the banner of the main message of this post. Please don’t feel that you need to apologize, or that you or any post that you may have been involved in were targeted. That is not the case, and this post is not for the purpose of discussing or alluding to individual events. We are always happy to have everyone contribute to conversations, even about slightly controversial topics, so long as it is in an appropriate manner.

[nminer]

Just wanted to say I’m really happy to see the Bunpro team making a post acknowledging this.

Overall, the forums are usually great and it’s honestly very refreshing compared to many other sites that are awash with hostility. Considering that Bunpro is a site for learners, I think trying to encourage a friendly space where people can ask questions without things devolving into antagonistic exchanges is really important in supporting that journey.

So just wanted to say thank you for trying to maintain that

[someoneyoudontknow]

Is it because I joined the Possum Gang and not Bunny Gang?

On topic

I think people don’t need to take everything so seriously. Learning a language and all things related to it should be fun and or enjoyable!

[bunnypro]

@someoneyoudontknow

Is it because I joined the Possum Gang and not Bunny Gang?

In the spirit of goodwill and cooperation, I guess I’ll just have to pretend I didn’t hear that

That is ...

despite having huge ears

[thelizard]

conveying your opinions in a way that people on the internet won’t get angry about it, is an art. One I haven’t mastered myself yet either. Despite participating in online-discussions since the 1990s BBs era.

I generally agree with this thread, we should all always try to keep the tone as light and friendly as possible. However, something that I also consider important is to give people the benefit of the doubt. It’s often difficult to guess how someone was feeling when writing a message. So unless there’s no other way to interpret something, I will always try to assume it was not an attack.

Poe’s law is pretty valid: no matter how obviously ridiculous a take might be, without a sarcasm indicator (due to lack of intonation and body-language in a text message), someone will always take it serious.

[FubuMiOkaKoro]

Yeah. Through a DM from a user I talked with in that thread I found out that my comment about social skills was recieved with the exact opposite intention I meant. I was trying be helpful and give a suggestion of how to improve in that area, since it’s something I myself (being on the spectrum) struggle with. But I guess my tendency to write in a pretty cold and neutral tone erased any intended empathy in my comment, so it was unfortunately taken as a personal insult without me realizing it.
And it just snowballed from there, when several other users joined in (I think because they also interpreted that comment as an insult).

But it’s all in the past now. After some days of consideration I’ve decided not to come onto this forum anymore. Trying to assess from a big picture perspective, I think that I’ve mostly at least tried to be helpful and friendly interacting with the other users here on the forum. So to have several of them turn on me so quickly over what started as a simple misunderstanding of a comment kind of left a sour taste.

I sincerly do hope the atmosphere here improves, but I don’t really feel an urge to participate here anymore.
I still wish all users here good luck on their way towards fluency, we’re all going to get there.
Bye.

[Neon_Kitsune]

Sorry to hear that.

Good luck with your Japanese studies!

[Pablunpro]

Farväl!

[eclipse77x]

I’ve not been active in the forums lately and coming back to read this makes me sad. That said, I’ve never seen this issue handled in a more tasteful and thoughtful way. @Jake you should be really proud of your team.

[homa]

Reminders me of those two poor Japanese people whom, after their phrase about some people who bother them a little, I wrote “全滅しろ”.
Their reaction was more like if I said to make a shooting 😶‍🌫️
Probably, I wanted to practice the word I just recently have learned from Frieren