RuneScape Forums
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The RuneScape official forums are forums set up by Jagex to allow players of RuneScape to discuss the game with one another.
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[edit] Versions
[edit] Early forums
The first incarnation of the forums ran from early in 2001, when RuneScape first launched, to November 14 of the same year. The earliest version of the forum had a threaded view, while it was later updated to have a linear view. The forums were available to all players. Later, Jagex added a 60 overall skill total requirement to use the forums, to discourage people from using "throwaway" accounts to cause trouble. The forums were shut down on November 14, 2001 due to abuse.
[edit] Return of forums
Jagex relaunched the forums in November of 2003, after a two year hiatus. However, this time, the forums were available to members only. These forums were a vast improvement over the previous version. Forum Moderators were introduced with this relaunch (originally called Player Moderators). After the beta had ended, free users were given the ability to view posts. On March 18th, 2004, Jagex announced that the total amount of posts had reached 1 million, and that on average 8,000 users had logged into the forums every week. This version remained in place until April of 2006.
[edit] Current version
The current version of the forums differs slightly from the previous version. The most notable features are an ability to jump between forums directly, a "Quickfind Code" system that allows other people to find threads quickly, a "Bump" button which allows a thread creator to bump his/her own topic without having to actually post on it, and an extended forum profile for seeing which threads one has posted on. In addition, threads and posts which are hidden no longer simply vanish; they are replaced with an indicator stating that the offending item has in fact been hidden from view.
Jagex staff can use HTML markup in the forum (players used to be able to use the <b> and <i> tags in the earliest version, but can no longer do so).
Posts that fall beyond page 50 get automatically deleted. Some players refer to these posts as being "eaten by the page 51 monster", which has also acquired the nickname "Chewy".
[edit] Criticism
[edit] Too draconian
The RuneScape Forums have always fallen under criticism by many users. The usual sources of criticism tend to be related to the overall behaviour of the users themselves, and to some degree the way the volunteer moderators handle problems that arise. Many people feel that Jagex empowers its moderators to the point where they are heavy handed, and any type of public protest/questioning of a moderator's conduct - warranted or not - is greeted with disdain and discipline. Jagex themselves also come under fire for problems which escalate from the aforementioned problems.
Nevertheless, the official forums remain the most popular method of discussion among RuneScape players, and the marketplace forums in particular have constantly heavy traffic.
It is also considered ironic by some that forum moderators can ban users, yet cannot post stickies, even though it is the other way around on most online communities.
[edit] Not harsh enough
Many users feel also that Forum moderators are too lenient and don't enforce the rules strictly enough. This has created opposing views on Forum Feedback where many of the problems they believe are actually due to the worst rule-breakers getting too many appeals, who only then come back to cause problems.
Spam for example is one area where many users feel that rule-breakers shouldn't be given 2nd or 3rd chances and they should remain banned, especially when it's mass spam.
Some forum users complain that stolen accounts are left unbanned, due to the habit of leniency on general rule-breakers, and these occurrences are another example where they feel stricter controls are needed when dealing with rule-breakers.
Between those two camps (those who feel things are too strict and those who think things aren't strict enough) there may lay solutions and suggestions that can help improve the forums, making Forum Feedback one of the most important parts of the official forums.
[edit] Spam
Spam has become a constant problem in the RuneScape forums, most notably in the suggestion and game feedback forum. Sometimes spam stays up for hours, or even days, before a moderator locks it. The game feedback forum is one the most spammed areas; at any given time there are at least 1 or 2 'I've been hacked' or 'I've been scammed' threads.
[edit] Reality of the Internet
The reality of the Internet however means that no forum will ever be free of spam or of those wanting to take advantage any potential lapses in moderation or policy that would leave players vulnerable to many Internet Security issues. To be fair all popular Internet message boards have major issues with spam, flamers, trolls and sadly, scammers. In this way the RuneScape forums are required to deal with the same issues experienced by any other popular forum.
[edit] RuneScape Forums as an Information Tool
These forums provide a place for Jagex to further inform players about the dangers of account theft by Fake RuneScape Sites, as well as technical information in the Basic Technical Help Guide and a summary of how to seek assistance from the RuneScape website for Account Issues should players find their accounts compromised.
Such public security & safety information provided by Jagex along with good reporting from users in the I Need a Mod sticky (always found at the top of the General Forum) will keep the forums usable and available to the many thousands of daily users.
Due to the ease with which information can be posted on the forums as well as the fact this allows Jagex to get direct feedback from players at the same time, often official notices are posted in stickies in the Recent Updates forum or Tech Support forum. This has meant the forums are often the first place where notices about minor changes or temporary issues are posted. A good example is the Last Week's Updates - FAQ which can be found stickied at the top of the Recent Updates forum.
[edit] Official Marketplace Forums
Disputed whether it should exist due to the introduced trade limit, and the Grand Exchange, which is easier to trade with. However, due to the increasing use of a new player to player trading technique known as Junk trading, that Jagex have determined is permitted on the official forums, there has been a noticeable resurgence in these forums.
Though these Marketplace forums are nowhere near as busy as they once were, their importance has reemerged leading to further debate about how to improve their structure and supervision by Jagex Moderators & Forum moderators.
Search "Marketplace" on Forum Feedback to see players' current discussion threads about the state of these official trading forums.
[edit] Forum Directory
- Welcome to the Forums!
Getting Started
- Official - Official announcements from Jagex
News & Announcements
- Game - RuneScape related discussion
General
Recent Updates
Future Updates
Clue Scrolls
Distractions and Diversions
Item Discussion
Locations
Minigames
Monsters
Quests
Skills
The Achievement Diary
- Feedback & Support - Get help and give feedback
Game Feedback (formerly two forums, Rants and Compliments)
- Game Suggestions - Suggest new content here!
- Skill Suggestions
- Item Suggestions
- Area and Achievement Diary Suggestions
- Monster and NCP Suggestions
- Quest Suggestions
- Distractions & Diversions and Minigame Suggestions
- PvP Suggestions
- Clan Suggestions
- Miscellaneous/Other Suggestions
- Game Suggestions - Suggest new content here!
Billing Support
The Reporting Academy
Tech Support
Forum Feedback
Website Feedback
Jagex Store Feedback
- Community - Plan events and interact with other players
Clans Recruitment
Clans Discussion
Events
PKing
Duelling
Goals and Achievements
Roleplaying
Stories
Forum Games
Off Topic
- The Marketplace - Trade and lend your wares here! *
Armour
Weapons
Construction
Crafting
Discontinued Items
Farming
Fletching
Food
Herblore
Ores and Bars
Runes
Summoning
Treasure Trail Items
Miscellaneous
* See discussion about the Official Marketplace Forums above.
[edit] Recent Changes
[edit] Game Feedback
On 2 September, the Compliments forum and Rants forum where merged to create the "Game Feedback" Forum. The forum logo is half of the compliments logo (Yellow, left) and half of the Rants forum logo (Red, right).
[edit] Game Suggestions section
On 22 September the Suggestions forum was deleted and along came the new category. Game Suggestions. There had been a sticky in the Forum Feedback forum for over a month asking players of suggestions on what forums to add. The proposed layout was,
- Game Suggestions
- Item Suggestions
- Area/Achievement Diary Suggestions
- Quest and Minigame suggestions
- NPC/Monster Suggestions
- Skill Suggestions
- Other Suggestions
However, this layout did not stay. Each forum has five stickies. Welcome, Do Not Suggest!, High level content, Want to be a games developer? and How to report on the forums.
