Poll: New forum rules - Yay or Nay?

[Canid117]

Wait does this also mean that "Whatever x is in y relation to yourself is going to be used to z yourself from g" threads?

 

[NightlyNews]

Trying to post to read the relevant info.


Will edit with my opinion.

Edit: seems pretty fine to me. Not being able to advocate an adblocker is a little ridiculous. I'm all for ads, but can I seriously not talk about under or over pop-up ads those things are just wrong. I don't mind when a website advertises to me, but your not allowed to open new windows and any website that tries to gets instablocked.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I love the new rules. They are wonderful. I have never seen better rules.

>.>

<.<

*runs*

OT: To be honest, not much has changed. I really do like that they finally defined what is OK in terms of legality of thing. i.e. Even though drugs are legal in many places, we can only advocate ones that are legal in the US.

I really don't get why they are using Captcha though. In the time I have been here, I saw a grand total of 1 spam thread.

 

[subtlefuge]

Are there any moderators on this thread discussing this? Because it feels like an open dialogue between users and moderators is what we need right now.

There's also the "Moderation Team" user group here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/chat/Moderation-Team].

 

[Micalas]

Speaking of shrink-wrap contracts

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_305/8856-Self-serving-Small-Print

I'm just kidding! Please don't punish me

 

[Detective Prince]

I don't mind. I don't think there's any point moaning about rules unless they're things like "You're a woman thus you're inferior" or something. They're put in place for a reason.

Then again I've always been good. XD

EDIT: Oh a health metre....That sounds fun.

 

[MercurySteam]

This should be good. I doubt it wil change much but it's good to keep up to date just in case.

 

[staleBread]

I only have 1 question about the new rules:


Similarly, posts including, advocating, or linking to illegal or adult material are a very quick way to end your time as part of The Escapist community. An example of these are:

Illegal Drugs in the United States


Does this mean we can't have threads like "Should Drugs be Legalized in the US?" anymore?

I've already asked, we're allowed to discuss illegal stuff and whether it should be legalised, just not admit to doing it ourselves or advocate that others do it.

Alright, cool. I have no problem with continuing to lurk here then.

 

[Irridium]

The forum health meter is ridiculous.
I have ~1400 posts, over three years of membership and I have "2 warnings."
(That is to say, I am not a bad guy on these forums.)
Even if I get to 2800 posts in three years those "2 warnings." are never going away.

This is exactly the same thing that is wrong with the Californian three strikes law.
Putting people in lifetime jail for stealing pizza.
Permabanning many year members with thousands of posts.
SAME THING PEOPLE! FUCKING GROW SOME SENSE.

I apologize for my strong wording of my opinions, but c'mon!

Yeah, there should be a cutoff point. Not to mention I though warnings were NOT part of mod-wrath, and did not effect your history at all. Now they do? Whats with that?

Its even more outrageous when you(or I) was put on probation once about 3 years ago for flaming a flamer, received a warning about a year ago for low-content posts, and I'm still being punished for it? I've long since learned my lesson, and again, I though warnings didn't count as moderation. Just, you know, warnings.

 

[Nerf Ninja]

I said this last time there was a discussion of the rules. You guys need a different colour name instead the dark blue. I'm colourblind, I can't see a difference to the black names of "normal" posters unless I concentrate hard on it.

I know that Staff and Mods have a double title if that helps you distinguish.

Edit: actually, I'm wrong about that.

I'm not sure you are wrong actually, GeorgW does have two titles but Spinwhiz doesn't, but that might be by choice.

The thing is I can immediately tell that Spinwhiz is of some importance because his/her name is an obviously different colour, admittedly I have trouble telling what that colour is, it changes from green to orange whenever I look at it whereas I have difficulty with GeorgW's

 

[Irridium]

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.

Alright, that answers my concerns then.

Since the fact that I was put on probation once about 3 years ago and still am being watched for it seems rather... ridiculous.

Also, I thought warnings didn't count towards your moderation history. And were just, you know, warnings.

 

[NoriYuki Sato]

I said Other, due to the fact that the rules seem fairly basic, just updated a bit. Doesn't really seem like much has changed in them, just checking up more on keeping the community where it should be. Kind and full of people who love to be here.

 

[TrogzTheTroll]

Finally a reason to go to a good forum like Team Liquid.

 

[Old_Teabags]

I think they are just trying to raise the level of community here. Weeding out the jerks is something that all fourms will have to do eventually.

 

[GeorgW]

Besides for the forum health meters, which I agree, are unfair, my main problem is the pedophilia one, actually. Mainly because they're lumping innocent people with scumbags. Pedophilia =/= child molester. There are pedophiles on here, and one actually got a ban or suspension for saying that he was, until they realized that it wasn't actually against the rules, or against US law, so they had to unpunish them. There are plenty of people who are sexually attracted to kids but know better than to actually act on it. I'm not "condoning" it, I'm just saying that there's a difference between pedophile and child molester, despite what the fear-mongering media wants you to think. However, if the pedophilia thing just means CP, fine, but say that.

If we find you being slanderous with regard to any part of The Escapist, you will be penalized. This includes, but is not limited to communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give The Escapist, an individual creator, advertiser, site sponsor, product, group, government or nation a negative image.

This, especially the bolded part, disturbs me. Exactly how far are they going to go to make sure that the advertisers and governments aren't being "slandered"?

So wait? I am never going to go from yellow to green again? Or was that just poorly written?

No, that's what they're saying.

snip

Hey GeorgW, nice to talk to you again. I'm quoting you to get your attention. Now that I have it, I'm sure you've read the rest of my post, but I'd like you to clarify, what does the pedophilia thing mean? Does it mean that people like LegendaryGamer0 can expect a banhammer visit soon, or is it just anti-CP?

I brought up the paedophile point when I first became a mod, that it should maybe be specified to child molester, but it was buried in like 50 other questions so I never got a response to that. I never brought it up again cuz it felt like such a silly little thing, but if you haven't already, maybe PM Spin about it. The way I see it though, is that being a paedophile and advocating it isn't the same thing, but I see how that's confusing.

I guess I understand that there's a difference between doing and advocating it (I'm worried as to how blurry that line is, though). However, what is "advocating" it? It's kinda hard to advocate. Is it not thinking they're awful people who should be shot on sight? Is it not caring if someone is or isn't? Is it activly being against people hating on them? Because I can't think of a way to advocate it unless it's a rule that says that you can't say something like "Go be a pedophile!", and if so, did that ever even happen? Like, here's a example. Would I be punished for liking Kodomo no Jikan? Mentioning it on the forums? Posting the end credits from the anime (they're ok with Youtube, so they're not pornographic or anything, but I've posted them several times, in threads about songs that you can't stop listening to or are stuck in your head)? It's just really, really unclear.

Again, PM Spin. I can't really do anything about that either way.

Also, I'm already on my fifth strike, despite only having one warning and one probation.

I was suspended, but it was removed so I'm assuming it was stricken from my record.

The auto-filing is a bit off at times, take it up with the appeal board.

I'm vaguely reminded of the realID debacle on the old WoW forums. Everyone told Blizzard it was a bad idea but they tried to push it through anyways. If most of the community is against something then i'd take their advice.

Now this isn't intrusive and as insanely moronic, but from where i'm sitting it seems to be far from a good decision.

But, looking at the poll, that's not the case. It's just the vocal majority that doesn't like it, most people that like it apparently don't feel a need to come to this thread to complain.

 

[Kanaan Brood]

I'm not sure that I agree with some of the language used in the writing of the rules but I do agree with the spirit behind them. The permanance is ...I don't know. I would hate to see people gone for good for a well written barb. I'm new too this kind of thing but I do try to be civil.

 

[loc978]

Eh, the only real change I see is a clearly laid-out, public method of tracking member behavior here... it was a little nebulous before, and people were making accusations of Orwellian behavior by the mods... now at least it's all out in the open.
Aside from that, it looks like the rules on post content are a little more strict than what is really enforced, at least in terms of "taboo" content such as illegal drugs and sexual acts that haven't been approved by certain religious organizations. I'll be curtailing my participation in such discussions until I get a feel for these new rules.
Still, overall this is a "Yay!" from me.

 

[Pinstar]

Forum health? *posts to see what the hubbub is about*

*edit*

Makes sense. I am all for it.

 

[subtlefuge]

I find it a little disappointing and almost humorous that people assume this is sort of a rules "beta." I know for a fact that there was a lot of thought put into this system, and that the staff and mods have been discussing it for quite some time. Don't assume that things will radically change, or change at all.