Poll: New forum rules - Yay or Nay?

[Daystar Clarion]

Ouch, I have one yellow block already.

Retrospective health damage? Really? That's like criminalising swearing and then punishing me for all the times I've swore in the past.

Hardly fair.

 

[Jodah]

As long as it doesnt become like wrestlezone where you have to post a damn thesis in order to not have your post considered low content im fine with them.

Amen. I've made two posts over there in the three years I've been browsing the site because they are so damned strict.

 

[Sixcess]

I'll credit my impeccable record to rarely enterting the incendiary forums - i.e. Politics and Religion and, to a lesser extent, Off-Topic*

[sub]*I'm not really here at the moment. Move along, nothing to see here.[/sub]

I think the worst transgression I've made against the Escapist community is... I dunno... saying good things about Halo? I think that's frowned upon...

 

[RatRace123]

I've got three greens, I'm a bit nervous now. I really hope not to progress further.

 

[Fayathon]

I have no idea why this place has such strict rules against "trolling". A little smack talk can be good for a community.

Trolling can and usually does spiral out of control incredibly quickly, the moderation (I would imagine) has absolutely no interest in dealing with the mess if they don't have to.

I said "smack talk", not full on trolling. That's where it differs. If regular smack talk turns into full frontal trolling, then sure, ban away.

I think I'm a bit cynical about smack talk over the internet, it's too hard to get the intonation across for slightly crass, if jovial, remarks, and people tend to knee-jerk online. While I would love to see where we could poke fun at each other and take light-hearted jabs, allowing it is too big a gray area to moderate fairly.

 

[mr.mystery]

does it really matter? just dont post anything negative regardless of the rule system. you should be a good person with or without being told to

 

[Nanaki316]

*Is at first posting in this forum to get the new pop up*

EDIT: Gone through it all. Yes I know it applies to all of us but it doesn't matter as much to me because I wouldn't be a dick on these forums or to other people. Simple as that really.

 

[Mr.Teatime]

Shouldn't be a problem.

 

[drisky]

Its very black and white now, I've seen some who have been suspended multiple time but not get banned, now it comes after two and the ban hammer is going to come down a lot more. I have little to worry about, I've gotten like one warning (make that 2, I can't even remember the 1st and that says something), but I worry for others. 8 chances is quite a bit though.

 

[Tulks]

I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords.

OT: Meh, don't see a problem.

 

[Corporal Yakob]

Whuuuu? There are new rules? Whaaa?

Todays post is brought to you by the CAPTCHA phrase:

sanymen GETS

As in the sanymen GETS the goods!

 

[kurupt87]

Posting here to inspect this stange new McGoo. Will edit in thoughts.

Edit: No changes except the coloured behavioural bar, and perhaps the retroactive negation of the matrix badges. At least that I could see. I'm fine with this.

Edit 2: By fine I mean this isn't that different from what was around before, which I have problems with but remained, except for the obviousness of the bar thing. I suspect that was always there for the mods, in report form, and now we can see it too.

 

[mjc0961]

Well, I dislike two things about the "health meter", but it's not what you'd expect.

1. I can see other people's health meters by going onto their profiles. Thus I must assume that they can also see mine. Personally, I think my moderation history, even if it is just a graph that shows how many times I've been moderated, is none of any other regular member's business. That should stay between the member in question and the moderators.
EDIT: It seems like this was added because mods were sick of hearing "why did that guy get a warning and the other guy got a suspension when they both posted the same thing." So I do see the reason why that choice was made. I just don't think I agree with it. With the new system in place, it should already be obvious that one person got a warning and the other got suspended because of how the health meter system works without needing to display our meters to each other.

2. This one is just technicalities/nit picking, but it isn't really a health meter, is it? Health meters start of filled and then drain as you take hits. This meter starts off empty and fills as you take hits. Maybe change it so it starts off as a full green bar, draining but staying green as you get warnings, then changing yellow and red as you get more and more moderations until it's empty and you're banned. Or just change the name to something else. Like I said, this is really nitpicky.

 

[GeorgW]

You guys are posting too fast, and I'm trying to keep up as best I can, so sorry if I've already been ninja'd.

And really, the mods aren't perfect. If one gives you a stupid sentencing that they then refuse to revoke even though you see it as unfair, as does everyone else in the thread, then that gets counted against you forever.

And that's why there's an appeal system.

OK, but without diving into my own specific example, that's what I meant by "refuse to revoke".

I like it, it'll make my job a bit easier cuz less people will complain about inconsistency. If you have any questions about the new rules, please address them here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/chat/Moderation-Team].

Why don't you have a FHM?

Because I don't know what you mean. Mind explaining?

Forum health metre.

I do, it's empty.

I totally agree with of the intention, certainly...

The methods, not so much.

The Escapist claims to be a community promoting games etc. Key word - community. By the very definition of community, it's designed to pull the group together.

A rule like the above simply has no place in modern society. Only in primitive, medieval times did communities practice actions like shunning and exile. This was necessary, as times were hard and a non-conformist could get the whole community dead etc.

Times changed. People grew up. Shunning etc. went away.

Even some criminal records expire these days, and I'd consider that way more serious than an inappropriate comment on an internet forum (oh teh horrorz!). After all... dangerous driving is clearly less evil and depraved than an inappropriate comment on an internet forum. Right?

And ad-blockers on the same scale as pedophilia?? Not to be pedantic here, but there's clearly something wrong when an ad-blocker is listed in the same breath as the vile obscenity that is pedophilia!

And criminal acts inside the US only?? Wait, what? So it's fine to promote criminal activity as long as you do it outside the US?? I'm so confused.....

I really think we should push back on this one. The Escapist doesn't exist without us, the participants, and this is one time I think we should stand up and be counted!

As I've said before, ad-blockers and paedophilia are listed in the same place, but are in no way equal.
Also, it's referring to acts that are criminal in the US. Laws differ greatly between countries, so we have to set a standard.

(Did I understand the taking away your badges part correctly or did they simply mean you won't receive any more in the future?)

You won't receive any more, you will still have the old ones.

Only thing I would be a bit worried about is the "was put on probation for:" being around permanently and making visual clutter.

 

[shiaramoon]

*posts to view new rules then edit*

Edit: I'm with the OP, the whole 'permanent probation' seem a bit steep. Heck, most video games have regenerating health, why not Escapist 'rep'? You should be able to earn your way out of the probation with good behavior. Everyone deserves the chance to redeem themselves and should not be permanently punished fir some stupid behavior in the past. If you do say 10 posts in a week without incurring mod wrath, you should go down a notch from probation/warning/whatever.

 

[Metal Brother]

I'm responding (with a CAPTCHA - yay!) so I can see the new rules. Let's see...

choryH quences

Edit: The only thing that strikes me as inappropriate is the phrase "Here is the breakdown of all 8 stages" that immediately precedes a list of 5 stages.

;-)

All in all, it looks good to me. In my mind it's all just detail after the "Don't be a jerk" notice at the top. Everything else can be largely summed up under the heading of "Once you decide to be a jerk..."

 

[Sevre]

The moderation on this site is for the benefit of the users, site statistics show almost 90% of you have never gotten more than a few warnings, as a result you shouldn't have any trouble.

The 8 strike system is to make it easier for trolls to be banned, however the system won't be used against normal users in the same way. If you're on level 5 because you were a naughty child two years ago, we'll take the 2 years of quality posting into account.

Ultimately this system is new and we'll tweak it as necessary, it shouldn't stop you from enjoying everything this site has to offer, so don't worry about it.

 

[Purplecoyote]

New rules you say?

EDIT: I'm ok with those rules, they seem reasonable enough.

 

[Laser Priest]

Noting that you can get probations for someone misconstruing your words as an insult, I think the forum health meter is a bad idea.

It's good for keeping people under control, but that might just be because you're stabbing anyone who isn't.