Slashman wrote on May 7, 2016, 14:14:
I really wish people would just stick to facts here.

1) Every developer has complete control over the forums for their own game on Steam. They can moderate and ban people who violate their rules as they like. I've seen this done many times to many an idiot.

Stem has always had the policy of giving the developers the tools and letting them do things their own way. I'd be very surprised if they ever personally tried to moderate a developer's forum unless things were way out of hand or violating a law.

2) Developers have no control over user reviews on Steam. This is as it should be and it would be bad IMO if they ever did. Now this is where Steam CAN, to a certain extent try to stop the more vitriolic/offensive type of posts in reviews.

But if Steam does take an active hand in moderating reviews, it needs to be very carefully balanced. I'm all for squelching racial slurs, attacks based on religion, sexuality etc. But you cannot, and should not, be banning or deleting reviews which are simply about someone's opinion of a game. It is a fine line to walk and I'm guessing would take a ridiculous amount of effort based on the sheer number of reviews that both already exist and get added every day.

3) Anybody who truly believes that Steam has not been the strongest force in ensuring the continuing health of PC gaming over the past decade is in complete denial. And pretty much every single indie developer and several of the larger dev studios will tell you as much. Bury your head in the sand if you want to feel cool for opposing 'The Man' but facts are facts.