Ask Massively: Forums, edit buttons, and staff change-ups

Last week, we announced that we are closing down Massively's forums. What forums, you ask? Yeah, unfortunately, that was exactly the point. The forums were always a bit too adjacent to the site, and in the wake of the success of our newfangled comment system, we'd prefer to focus on publishing articles and engaging readers right here in the comments on the site, rather than on a neglected off-site portal. I'm genuinely sorry, but I hope the few remaining, stalwart forumgoers will migrate over and help make our comments an even more interesting place to be. In return, we'll try to crack down harder on the comment trolls who are hell-bent on killing the buzz. Believe me, they annoy us as much as they annoy you, especially when we're babysitting them on a Friday night.

But this is Ask Massively, the meta column where you ask us weird questions and we give you weird answers. So what else did you wonder about this week?

Vandalprime asked: Why the frak isn't there an edit button on the comments?

Remember those trolls I was just talking about? If left unchecked, they would take advantage of every loophole provided by an edit button, like changing posts to alter the context or adding in offensive material after moderator eyes have moved on. We could spend time and money paying even more moderators to safeguard the comments in the wake of a hypothetical editbuttongate, but I hope you'll agree with me in preferring that we spend that time and money on quality writing and discussion instead. The abuse potential just isn't worth it (though the editor in me does understand the legitimate desire for an edit button -- it's born of that terror you feel when you realize you've misspelled a word and everyone saw).

Several people asked: I thought Shawn Schuster retired to his organic farm, but now I see his name on Massively posts?

The blogging world is a volatile place. You can announce that you're leaving one job for another job, and then three weeks later, find that the job you were leaving for no longer exists. This is the crazy situation Shawn found himself in, and lucky for all of us, I hadn't gotten the go-ahead to hire my own replacement, so Shawn is now back and working for Massively in a Senior Editor role. You'll be seeing more writing from him than you have in years! Welcome back, Shawn!

On a related note, this month we've also deputized some new-old staff. Long-time Massively livestreamers Blake Cripps, David Desi, Dylan Tehrani, and Richie Procopio have officially joined the staff as Multimedia Contributors, and jack-of-all-trades streamer Mike Foster, who was already writing for us on the side, has joined up formally as a Contributing Editor. You can continue to enjoy their games-streaming on our Twitch channel and in The Stream Team feature every Monday.

What should you play? Where is the MMO industry headed? How does Massively operate? Has Lord British lost his marbles? Why is there no edit button? Should "monoclegate" be hyphenated? Editor-in-Chief Bree Royce submits to your interrogations right here in Ask Massively every Thursday. Drop your questions in the comments below or ping us at ask@massively.com. Just ask!