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^Yeah, haha, I figured that. I don't know if there's a simple rule to be written. Maybe it should be: "When in doubt, put spoiler tags around it. For more details on when to spoiler tag, go here." And "here" is the link to whatever thread best discusses on how to apply spoiler tags. dtm42's post isn't bad, but it's long-winded. Plus, he isn't a mod. I think it needs to come from a thread created by a mod.

willag wrote:

^Yeah, haha, I figured that. I don't know if there's a simple rule to be written. Maybe it should be: "When in doubt, put spoiler tags around it. For more details on when to spoiler tag, go here."

Yeah I think the part you bold is how I would do it, Willag. I can't memorize the specific part about spoiler tag so I just put the spoiler tag regardless of what thread it is.

willag wrote:

Exceptions to Necroposting rules are detailed in 11b, Psycho. If there are other exceptions, then they need to be included.

The various weekly Columns are exempt. I also agree we should figure out something regarding pictures that are posted. Posting too many is frowned upon but what is too many? Do we go by size or amount? Obviously anything obnoxiously big is a no no but beyond that we should hammer out something in regards to photos. Minus the Comm section obviously.

dtm42 wrote:

^
People do make their own signatures even though doing so is not allowed, for example mgosdin, Emerje, and Tempest . . . oh. Uh . . . that might explain why the mods throughout the years have typically been rather lax on signature enforcement.

I don't have a fake signature. A "Fake Signature" refers to manually typing (or cut & paste) a signature to the bottom of every message.

That said. I do disapprove of people using "location" to put a message. But I admit to doing it (out of necessity) and we are very lax in enforcing this (I don't think it's actually in the rules).

Blood- wrote:

[And this ends my involvement in trying to rationalize ANN's rules. If we are dealing with an owner who is totally comfortable with the fact that his unpaid mods will be enforcing rules that in some cases aren't even codified any where or scattered in different forums, what can I say? I think a sloppy system like that is unfair both to the mods and the users but there is a level of managerial and customer service incompetence that I'm simply not prepared to try and rectify.

The problem is two fold.

First, I want a simple rules system so that people actually read it. I don't want 18 pages of legalese that no one will read. The longer the rules, the fewer people that read them.

Secondly, and I might be hoping for too much here, I want people (moderators and users) to use common sense when applying the rules.

The only real rule I care about is "behave in a civilized manner." The rest of it is all guidelines and recommendations.

Our moderators are already aware of the fact that they can moderate or ban a user who has not broken a single rule. We've also allowed people to stay who have regularly broken the rules without actually harming the forum in any way.

It's not a matter of us "doing things at our whim," but rather a matter of discretion. If someone makes the forum better, they stay. If they hurt the forum, they leave.

willag wrote:

^Yeah, haha, I figured that. I don't know if there's a simple rule to be written. Maybe it should be: "When in doubt, put spoiler tags around it. For more details on when to spoiler tag, go here." And "here" is the link to whatever thread best discusses on how to apply spoiler tags. dtm42's post isn't bad, but it's long-winded. Plus, he isn't a mod. I think it needs to come from a thread created by a mod.

With all due respect, I wasn't a moderator when Tony K. took my "Necroposting" thread and stickied it. (And mere words cannot reflect just how thrilled I was when that happened!) I respectfully submit that that it's better to over-explain something than to under-explain something.

Blood- wrote:

And this ends my involvement in trying to rationalize ANN's rules. If we are dealing with an owner who is totally comfortable with the fact that his unpaid mods will be enforcing rules that in some cases aren't even codified any where or scattered in different forums, what can I say? I think a sloppy system like that is unfair both to the mods and the users but there is a level of managerial and customer service incompetence that I'm simply not prepared to try and rectify.

Peace out.

After all the fuss you made over this topic, after all the rabble rousing you're just going to dip out like that? That makes your involvement up until now seem very disingenuous Blood. This whole thing started primarily because of you. This thread is here with people trying to update and streamline the rules primarily because of you. Yet it seems the moment it doesn't go 100% exactly how you want you have a tempter tantrum and leave. I'm not trying to be a dick here, though you very well might say that I am, but for a user on the outside looking in that's exactly how it looks. We haven't even come up with a finished product yet. Not even a rough draft of a finished product. Yet you're just walking away in a huff. If you're serious about this and all your fuss over this topic isn't just hot air you should at least stay until we have some sort of finalized product to show Tempest & Zac before you decide it isn't worth your time.

Tempest wrote:

dtm42 wrote:

^
People do make their own signatures even though doing so is not allowed, for example mgosdin, Emerje, and Tempest . . . oh. Uh . . . that might explain why the mods throughout the years have typically been rather lax on signature enforcement.

I don't have a fake signature. A "Fake Signature" refers to manually typing (or cut & paste) a signature to the bottom of every message.

That said. I do disapprove of people using "location" to put a message. But I admit to doing it (out of necessity) and we are very lax in enforcing this (I don't think it's actually in the rules).

The location bit is not in the rules, but there is a "suggestion" to not do it on the profile page where you can edit your location, avatar, interests, etc. Minus something offensive or used to soap box (only seen maybe a handful of those personally) I have never seen it enforced in my 8 years here. As in a moderator actually admonishing someone for it. Maybe it happened behind the scenes but not publicly that I saw.

Quote:

9. No bootlegs, fansubs, scanlations, etc.

A. Users may not request or link to bootlegs, fansubs, scanlations, active fan-translating groups, peer-to-peer networks, timed scripts, MP3s, unauthorized movie clips, or websites that house these groups or products. Links to and discussions about websites that provide authorized, legal downloads are permitted.
B. This forum has banned a number of URLs to known bootlegging websites. If a user posts an URL that displays as [This URL is a Known Bootlegging website], or a similar warning message, the user may not evade the censor. Users that evade the censor may be punished.

In my opinion we do not need B. in the rules. 9.A states do not request or link to bootlegs, fansubs, etc etc. Do we really need to say we've banned URL's to some of these sites? It seems like pointless info to mention that and it's also redundant to then say users evading the censor can be punished when 9.A already says that. I think we could simply have one shortened rule #9 as such;

9. Users may not request or link to bootlegs, fansubs, scanlations, active fan-translating groups, peer-to-peer networks, timed scripts, MP3s, unauthorized movie clips, or websites that house these groups or products. Violations of this can lead to punishment. Links to and discussions about websites that provide authorized, legal downloads are permitted and encouraged.

I also maintain that rule 5 for signatures is not needed anymore at this point. They are disabled already and to me that should be enough. Plus as mentioned above there is no rule on using a real world location either. It's suggested in the area of your profile where you can edit it but there is no actual rule. Perhaps a similar request could be put somewhere in the profile edit area in regards to signatures. Then we could use rule 5 for the topic of images and there would not need to be an extra rule added.

Thoughts?

[This is going way to far, and is extremely rude. -t]

Last edited by Touma on Fri Mar 06, 2015 12:47 pm; edited 1 time in total

Psycho 101 wrote:

I also maintain that rule 5 for signatures is not needed anymore at this point. They are disabled already and to me that should be enough.

I agree.
If somebody does use a "fake" signature that presents a problem it will probably be covered by a different rule.
Such as #4, about being relevant and thoughtful.
Or #8, about commerce, would apply to the use of a fake signature to promote a web site, or something like that.

EDIT: If the rule about fake signatures is left in then I think that there should be a thread in this forum explaining what that means.

Blood- wrote:

I laid out my rationale for why I thought the rules should be updated, much of which is to try and make the mods lives easier by the way, and the dude who owns the place still basically says, "yeah, I ain't gonna do it." Maybe ramming your head against a brick wall is your idea of a fun time, but it isn't mine.

Tempest didn't completely disregard the idea of updating the rules and what has followed after that have been suggestions to try and update the rules without making them longer (atleast, I think). I don't generally see the need to update the rules since, generally speaking, using common sense and being respectful of others will not get you banned. If you overquote for example, the mods will scold you for it and maybe (hopefully) direct you to the quote guideline thread. Although my common sense will tell me not to quote a ridiculous wall of text and reply to it with: "Yup!".

Please don't sign you own death warrant. You're one of the most entertaining users in ANN. If you had a fanclub, I'd join it.

Well, Cam0, this is your lucky day. It just so happens that the Blood- Appreciation Society is having a sale on membership fees. For the low, low price of $10,000 YOU could be a charter member the second your check clears. Act now to avoid disappointment!

Is it worth popping a short addition to point 4 ("swearing is frowned upon") stating something like sexist, racist and homophobic comments are not tolorated.

I know this is very obvious but it's not actually stated in Teh Rules - that way if a user does violate this rule one can say "you have been put on moderation for violating rule 4.a" - quick and simple response.

I feel points 11 and 12 are disclaimers rather than rules. These could be moved further down the original Teh Rules posts thus reducing the amount of "rules", yet keeping the text in the post to be read.

TsunaReborn! wrote:

Is it worth popping a short addition to point 4 ("swearing is frowned upon") stating something like sexist, racist and homophobic comments are not tolorated.

I think this part of that rule is the more important one:

Quote:

If you disagree with a poster, disagree respectfully, or do not disagree at all.

It's kind of obvious what that rule generally speaking entails. There's no need to elaborate.

Blood- wrote:

Well, Cam0, this is your lucky day. It just so happens that the Blood- Appreciation Society is having a sale on membership fees. For the low, low price of $10,000 YOU could be a charter member the second your check clears. Act now to avoid disappointment!

Do fans of dtm42 get a larger discount?

@ Cam0 - though those types of terms can be used when talking about a show/character etc rather than aiming the remarks at another member - the context of the rule is for comments aimed at another member.

I.e calling a character in a show a fag is not calling another member (let alone one they disagree with) one; technically not breaking that rule. It's a small technicality and anyone who is not a moron wouldn't use those types of terms anyway but it wouldn't hurt to have a small one liner in there.

I have another issue I need to bring up in Teh rule, language barrier within the English language. As you know, beside having users from US and Canada. We also have people from the UK and Australia. When it comes to the English language, there is a language barrier between British English and American English.

Forbes-Overcoming The Language Barrier As A Brit In America

The Guardian-British/American English-breaking the language barrier (Daily Mail published a similar article regarding American/British English language barrier)

BBC-divided by English

The Telegraph-Two nations divided by a common language

Even the US film, Free Willy made people in the UK laugh over it's title. And I think people should know Football is soccer in UK English. American football is what British called our football (I think some of my British buddies hilariously nicknamed American Football as "American rugby").

I say this, because some vulgar word in American English may not be offensive in British sense like for example:

there is a British food called fa**ots, I'm not making this up. Read this article from The Guardian and this one.

Even the word f*g means cigarettes in British English rather then a homophobic slur (which is common in USA). Your average American on ANN (that has never went or spend time in the UK, or watch entertainment from the UK) may not even know this.

This language barrier between British English and American English did happen one time on a thread.

Is there a way we can set up a "guide" to help UK reader/forumites to be careful which word is not "offensive" in British English that would be deemed offensive in American sense? I don't want another incident like the one I linked above.

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