A PSA for the USG Community: Why We're Wiping Our Comments Archive
A note from the editor on why we're scrubbing the comments.
This article first appeared on USgamer, a partner publication of VG247. Some content, such as this article, has been migrated to VG247 for posterity after USgamer's closure - but it has not been edited or further vetted by the VG247 team.
Hello USgamer readers! Thank you for supporting our site through the years. Many of you have been here since the beginning, and your input as a community is always valuable and enjoyable.
On that note, I have some news for all of you. Tomorrow we will be wiping our comment archive. Naturally, all user profiles will remain intact, and we will pretty much continue from where we left off. But unfortunately we will shortly be losing about five years of lively community discussion.
Why are we taking this step? Well, as longtime readers probably know, we've had a spam problem on this site for several years now. We're moderating it as best we can, but a lot of our older articles still have a ton of it.
In an attempt to improve the overall experience of reading and commenting on USG, we're taking the following steps:
- Wiping the comments archive so we can start fresh
- Implementing new checks so that spam accounts have a harder time getting through
- Aggressively moderating spam on a daily basis using our internal toolset
- Closing comments after seven days so spam can't get in and fester
We obviously hate to lose the many excellent conversations we've had over the years. One of the things that sets USG apart in my mind is the quality of our readership, who often post lengthy and very interesting comments. I'm always excited when one of our articles get a large number of comments, because I know the conversation will be good rather than toxic, and that's not something that can be said for many sites.
Thankfully, this isn't the end. The community will remain intact and we will continue on as before, hopefully with a lot less garbage links. But if you're wondering why your comment archive is suddenly empty, now you know. Thank you again for supporting USgamer, and please look forward to lots more gaming coverage as we head into fall 2019.