Or trust in peer review, MERACE, as performed by you... fair point, forum discipline is quite lax here. Also Noelw was asked a direct question, so I think it's only right that he answered it in the same thread.
So let's bring this one back on track. We have a pretty stubborn purist camp in our tester pool as well - they all are very nice guys, though, and there is not one mean bone among all of them. I do believe we have a much more mature debating culture, which might deteriorate come the time of early release. I agree that PP will need some sort of CM by the time early beta goes out, just to keep the feedback orderly and to weed out multiple postings and get rid of trolls.
Noelw, the key to projects such as this is participation. It's about joining the fray and posting comments about things you feel are important, working with others to identify issues, offer opinions on issues others are bringing up - without getting personal or caustic or snarky or petty (I do struggle in this department sometimes, mea culpa). As it stands now, there is not one single person and his views dominating the development process - over in the private forums it's a symphony of views and ideas, debated on their merits, for the makers to have a complete brief based on which they can decide what to do.
Like you, I am a mainly negative guy, a glass-half-empty type of person, who sees the bad things first. Between you and me, our dedicated non-fanboy attitudes are indispensable for the success of PG. We don't go for BS or hype and will ruthlessly point fingers at the most glaring problems. We are destined to annoy the heck out of complacency. So if you join the EA, don't just do it to get to play the unfinished game at the earliest possible date, but please make room for the possibility that your participation is needed and that your views can be of help to all of us.
