I think there are a few things that need to either be made clearer or added to the G&T rules for sanity's sake (as in, if someone violates the rules there is less room to argue about their innocense when clearly in violation). I'm kinda being a nit-picky bastard, I know.
Add to Porn rule:
"If a forumer requests that you not directly display an image with image tags, please respect their request. Many users browse the forums while at their place of work (their work ethics are for their bosses to question, not us
)."
Rewrite spoiler rule:
"Always include a spoiler notice in the subject of your thread where appropriate. If you must include a spoiler in a response, please use the [ spoiler ] tags where appropriate. If spoiler-tag joking is rampant, please opt to use the [ realspoiler ] tags. For judgment on what is a spoiler and what isn't, use common sense; a game from five years ago is unlikely to be spoiled for people (though it is possible), but a game that came out last month most likely can be spoiled."
Add to Search rule:
"We understand that you may have an urgent issue with a topic that may be at page 40, but we ask that you be persistant in the correct thread with what you have to say or ask."
My Note/request for contacting the moderators:
Post an aim account (make it if you don't have it) to better suit the contact in emergency function. For those that want to do it, please add it next to the PM button with the little AIM icon there. Not all mods have to do this, this is just my request to maybe get faster response time when trouble is going on.
My note/request for the common computer knowledge link:
Would it be possible to update that thread at all? Or make a new one? I didn't go through it thoroughly, but usually those types of things get forgotten.
Adding a jailing note to either Miscellaneous or Tips for Success:
"If you are unfortunately jailed for violating the rules written here, please remain reasonable about it and contact the mod or deputy that jailed you. Keep any discussion to PMs. Making a thread about it does not help your case."
Add a note to either Miscellaneous or Tips for Success:
"The rules written here are to be respected in the Chat Thread, minus the on-topic bits (it is, afterall, a chat thread). Rules regarding forum etiquette, NSFW material, etc, are to be followed just as closely as in any other thread."
Posts
*Specifically the "you can't discuss a game at all under any circumstance outside its official thread" bit
Other than that, speaking as someone who is on this site from work more than anywhere else, this is probably my biggest concern. I'd like to see that implemented.
You can, but if it's not worthwhile, it's going to be locked. For example, creating a Game On: Star Wars Battlefront with servers and whatnot to play outside of the current Battlefront topic would be fine. Creating a "How do I beat X in Battlefront" or "I have technical problem Y with Battlefront" would not, because they are questions which do not really deserve their own thread. If it's going to be answered in less than a page or two, just post it in the existing topic.
See, it looks like we have a fundamental disagreement about the meaning of "worthwhile", which is due to a similar disagreement about the role of such threads. Personally, I'd rather see official threads act as mop-ups for any discussion which wouldn't warrant its own thread if there wasn't an official thread. Or, to put it another way, the game being discussed in a thread should not have a bearing on whether it's thread-worthy or not - if it'd be fine if it was asking/saying the same thing about a game without an official thread (subject to duplication rules), I'd say it should be allowed.
Anyways, I'm not mod, so obviously all these fixer-uppers I posted are just suggestions. Still, I think we could use those temperings.
I want to comment briefly on recent events. People got banned for ticking off the mods/deputies. The image that caused it was fine in terms of content (the size was perhaps problematic, but nobody really cared about that), and the complaining was pointless and dumb. Most directly, NSFW is at the discretion of the mods/admins/deputies - who do a fine job at it, I think - and will not be determined by means of a vote or public displays of disapproval.
Last thing we need is a plebian thought police. It's an internet forum, not a church social.
Inclusion of some of our newer features - i.e. spoiler tags - is a decent idea.
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In relation to yesterday's events, the forumer asked to remove the image had his temp-ban coming. After being asked to remove it, he was still posting links to it and kept getting on everyone's case about it; including the mods. Insubordination is NOT something mods should overlook. There is a difference between calling a mod a poopie head and then giving him shit for instructing you to do something.
The image itself, I feel, is entirely inappropriate. It was a photoshopped GIF of an adolescent kissing a ten year old character. And yes, it may be a cartoon, but remember that hentai falls under the jurisdiction of pornography. I don't know where you come from, but where I come from kissing a ten year old in that manner is NOT okay.
You're fucking insane. All of you are.
First off, what is pornographic about it? Most of us can't even tell if the thing on the left is even female. Assuming it is, what, if anything at all, implies anything even remotely sexual about it? It looks like the one on the right is the thing on the left's mother.
You people are goddamned loons. I'm convinced of it. And no Henroid, just because it'd be nice if everyone always had to cater your every request doesn't mean that's going to be a rule we're going to jail or ban people over.
The reason that image was unacceptable was because it's so fucking huge it makes my cable modem hiccup while loading that page. The only reason Mwu was banned was because he's a stupid antagonistic asshole who was sassing the deputies and who doesn't know when to stop. Zzulu got banned because he's too stupid to realize when it's not a good idea to jerk around, in the hopes that maybe this will get him to start thinking before posting.
NSFW my fucking ass. If that's NSFW, you shouldn't be a PA period. The stuff in the COMIC is a million and one times more offensive. How on Earth is that imagine somehow more inappropriate than the Fruit Fucker? Don't answer that. It isn't. You're all insane.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
I should probably stop going on my obscenity binges in D&D, too.
There is a difference between someone reading the comic at THEIR choice in the workplace and someone having an image show up that is NSFW at someone else's choice.
NSFW is dictated by us as we manage this place. We don't do it to the tastes of everyone, certainly, and that is they way it needs to be unless we want a sanitized forum. I'd like to meet the conservative nazi who would find that graphic in any way sexual, let alone offensive. I would point and laugh.
If that nazi is your boss, you might want to try doing something really rebellious at work like working.
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But I didn't say anything.
Full comics in which the Fruit Fucker is involved are generally far less work-friendly than that clip. Should people who post them in the G&T chat thread be banned? No, really--I'm curious.
I am so banning you now.
That was the greatest alt ever and you know it.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Forget fruit fucker, forget yesterday's pic. If someone simply asks "can you link that instead" I don't think it is unreasonable to do so. When you become an uppity asshole about it then it is, unfortunately, an issue.
Doc: That's right, twenty five years into the future. I've always dreamed on seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind. I'll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five world series.
Remember when deni said I had a lump of coal where my heart should be?
However, that's a moot point because there's nothing NSFW about that image. There's nothing even remotely sexual implied.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Henroid, you aren't a mod. You don't get to make those requests.
Users don't get to bully each other into not posting things for no good reason other than "they don't want it posted". If you have a problem with a posted image, you get a mod to look at it and take appropriate action. If you have a problem with the moderating decisions made, you can talk to an admin.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Ok, maybe he would have been a nice guy and done it because it meant something to you. But its also not unreasonable for him to say "no".
Which is why we're not going to make a rule, and I'd actively recommend that we leave the content of a post as a relationship between the author and the mods.
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I didn't make this thread to discuss yesterday's bullshit.
Towards whom? It's not kosher to have users playing the--What was it? "Faggot Jew"?--towards mods and deputies, obviously. But users tell one another to shut the hell up all the time about non-ruling breaking things. Had a rule it actually violated--size or h-scroll--been cited, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Instead, a rule it really doesn't break is being pointed to, and people are behaving like oxygen-crazed Victorians.
Then why did you choose to discuss yesterday's bullshit in it?
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
And if you have a problem with an admin decision, your account gets deleted.
It's a very clean process.
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It's the only real issue in this thread. The other ideas all are very minor, and involve simply refreshing the rules to demonstrate and advocate new features, like the spoiler tag.
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On the other hand, updating the Rules to reflect new features like the Spoiler tag is a good idea.
its terrible to suggest any rules of thumb.
simply mark ALL spoilers.
that means all games/movies/books/whatever no matter when they were released.
seriously, its not that hard to put them on, and you're bound to affect one person (one too many) if you just go by what you think is bad to reveal or not.
and if the thread isnt inherently about one game's spoiling.. ie: a FFVII ending thread...
then spoilers should be done in this manner
Super Mario Bros
[spoiler:ef29b2d1a7]she's in another castle![/spoiler:ef29b2d1a7]
if you dont put something outside the spoiler, then how the hell is anyone supposed to know if its something they can read or not?
that is largely a problem in places like chat threads or "most/best/memorable game/moments/ending/scene" threads, where every post is potentiall a spoiler, but one has no clue as to which are safe for them personally and which are not.
And I don't think anything is getting new buttons until the new forums later this year - apparently it's all a jumble of code there and not worth the time fixing at the moment.
Although more use of the big empty grey space to the right of the post box would be great.