I'd like to chime in about my experiences with the moderators on the RSI forums.
Event 1, October 2014:
I was brand new to the community and interested in the game. I liked what I saw, but my only sources of information were articles that all said bad things, social media that only said bad things, and RSI, which obviously won't say bad things.
After seeing debate about features changing, and having (in my noobness) mistaken it to mean big things, such as entire modules just, "lol we're not making it now" (again, going by vague forum banter), I went to chat to ask. When I have a question about someone's character, I have enough decency to ask them to speak for themselves.
When I asked about features vanishing, it seems like everybody in the chatroom lashed out at me as if they thought I personally wrote all the bad press CIG was getting. I was called several pejoratives just for asking a simple question, and was told by a moderator that CIG wouldn't miss me if I didn't back them. For trying to explain my question -- while apologizing for it at the same time -- I was put on probation.
Here's the response I got from Lewis:
Hello, While you may claim that you were simply asking questions you were calling Star Citizen a con and attacking our integrity. Then when our community asked you to stop you told them no. We view this as an attempt to start an argument in our chat system and as such placed you on probation. Thank you.
He clearly did not read the chat log. I repeatedly said that I was not calling it a con, but was a little gun shy about backing because so many other people were. All I wanted to see was something like, "Well, CIG isn't spending money on marketing to buy good reviews, so this is what happens."
CIG's most active associates with the public couldn't answer me. Instead, my question was answered elsewhere as CIG's moderators actively discouraged pledging for the game.
Event 2: Some time a month or so ago.
I saw someone get accused of shilling in a thread comparing E:D and SC. I used to participate in Reddit forums that brought that up often, and I therefore know three things:
So, I told that person they must not have learned much about marketing on Reddit (a joke), joshed him a bit (no outright insults at all), and offered the out. He took the out. I got probation.
Event 3: Recently
I was banned for using the term "fanatics". You know, the term that "fan" is short for? So, technically speaking, I was put on probation for calling someone a fan. They called me many other things, implicitly and explicitly, but they didn't want me discouraging them from making 10 threads a day about joysticks. And the moderators tend to side with joystick users in that debate.
RSI, frankly, has the worst moderation I have ever seen. Their moderators treat those forums like their own personal clubhouse. I've tested the fact: they do not enforce the rules unless it's in conjunction with one of their pet biases or somehow involves one of their favored community members. This wouldn't be a big deal for a game so early in development, but they're doing this to people who have spent hundreds to thousands of dollars on CIG's video game. "Here's $650; now treat me like crap, please."
I've lost interest in the official forums because the absolutely unprofessional moderation coupled with a consistently toxic atmosphere are bad for me. When I immerse myself in negativity, I'm more prone to it myself. But seriously, for the amount of money CIG has brought in, they could do better.