Post by Dinotoyforum on Aug 19, 2008 18:54:05 GMT
There have been a few controversial posts in the forum recently, including, to my shame, one or two by myself that may be construed (who am I kidding, they are!) as personal attacks. It seems that the Dinosaur Toy Forum has reached critical mass and it’s now time to introduce a series of rules to help guide our way to a harmonious and happy community. This should be seen as a credit to forum, which continues to grow in popularity and activity.
The admins would like to set up the rules in conjunction with the entire community and we would like your comments to help make the rules realistic and satisfactory for everyone. Thus, I repost below the rules taken from the JPtoys forum as a basis, all of which may or may not be incorporated into our rules. I have followed up each rule with a comment, but we are very interested in your opinions too. I’ll give it a week or so before we come to a conclusion - let the discussion begin.
So – The rules…
“No intentional maliciously-aligned personal attacks! We will not tolerate this. Friendly disagreement is okay, joking with each-other is okay, "emotisparring" (*clobbers armothe w/ hammer*) is moderately tolerable (no guns plz), even heated debates are okay.
A personal attack consists of a premeditated outburst in which the accused intentionally calls another member/s inappropriate names, and the recipient is legitimately offended._Saying "you suck" is not considered a personal attack._Saying "your post is lame" is not considered a personal attack._Saying "it is obvious that you are an idiot" IS a personal attack - and subject to consequence.”
Personal attacks and insults have to be moderated in some way – but I’m generally lenient, whereas my co-administrator thinks a ‘no personal attacks at all’ policy is preferable. Reading the JPforum examples, personally, I don’t see the difference between “you suck”, and “it is obvious you are an idiot”. Why is one a personal attack and the other not? Some forums have an explicit section where personal attacks and profanity is allowed which is possible, although probably not required in a toy forum, Tomhet and I don’t think so? Also, we do kid around a lot so that's obviously allowed as long as none of the members feel insulted.
“-If you have a problem with another member's comments in a posted thread, DO NOT respond with any further comments that will aggravate the situation. Members have two options of recourse....
Email the moderators, directing them to the individual and thread that the problem occurs in.”
Resolve the problem between both of you via email.”
Fine.
-Members are to respect the designated TOPIC AREAS when posting their message. If a member fails to post a thread to the designated Topic, JPToys moderators are allowed to move the thread to the appropriate Topic.
I might add, “or delete posts deemed inappropriate for the forum”. What is appropriate is listed in the Topic descriptions. Also, maybe unproductive, unconstructive and repetitive posts should not be allowed.
“-Please do not post any profanity (harsh or mild) or pornography in the forum.”
We think mild profanity is fine.
“-Please, no posting in all caps. For one, it's hard to read and also considered as yelling or screaming.”
Sounds fine. Some rule on using basic grammar and punctuation might be worthwhile here too.
“-No posting live auction links (except your own). If you want to show someone a picture featured in an auction, find the properties of that picture and post that URL directly.”
Given that we have a category specifically for ongoing auction links, I disagree with this one. I was once asked to remove a link by someone, and I was happy to do so, but I think this should be left at the discretion of the poster. Also, what if a member wants an auction to stay anonymous, do we remove the link? Comments?
“-No panhandling posts which consist of requests for money and donations.
Necessary rule?
“-No deliberate hi-jacking of threads. Wandering off-topic is allowed. If the author of a thread feels his or her post is being deliberately hi-jacked, he/she may contact the admin via PM.”
Sounds fine.
In addition, we think a rule on the following may be a good idea:
Consecutive posting. Allowed within the reasonable (perhaps up to 3?) but it's definitely preferable to edit the previous post, unless a thread needs to be bumped.
The admins would like to set up the rules in conjunction with the entire community and we would like your comments to help make the rules realistic and satisfactory for everyone. Thus, I repost below the rules taken from the JPtoys forum as a basis, all of which may or may not be incorporated into our rules. I have followed up each rule with a comment, but we are very interested in your opinions too. I’ll give it a week or so before we come to a conclusion - let the discussion begin.
So – The rules…
“No intentional maliciously-aligned personal attacks! We will not tolerate this. Friendly disagreement is okay, joking with each-other is okay, "emotisparring" (*clobbers armothe w/ hammer*) is moderately tolerable (no guns plz), even heated debates are okay.
A personal attack consists of a premeditated outburst in which the accused intentionally calls another member/s inappropriate names, and the recipient is legitimately offended._Saying "you suck" is not considered a personal attack._Saying "your post is lame" is not considered a personal attack._Saying "it is obvious that you are an idiot" IS a personal attack - and subject to consequence.”
Personal attacks and insults have to be moderated in some way – but I’m generally lenient, whereas my co-administrator thinks a ‘no personal attacks at all’ policy is preferable. Reading the JPforum examples, personally, I don’t see the difference between “you suck”, and “it is obvious you are an idiot”. Why is one a personal attack and the other not? Some forums have an explicit section where personal attacks and profanity is allowed which is possible, although probably not required in a toy forum, Tomhet and I don’t think so? Also, we do kid around a lot so that's obviously allowed as long as none of the members feel insulted.
“-If you have a problem with another member's comments in a posted thread, DO NOT respond with any further comments that will aggravate the situation. Members have two options of recourse....
Email the moderators, directing them to the individual and thread that the problem occurs in.”
Resolve the problem between both of you via email.”
Fine.
-Members are to respect the designated TOPIC AREAS when posting their message. If a member fails to post a thread to the designated Topic, JPToys moderators are allowed to move the thread to the appropriate Topic.
I might add, “or delete posts deemed inappropriate for the forum”. What is appropriate is listed in the Topic descriptions. Also, maybe unproductive, unconstructive and repetitive posts should not be allowed.
“-Please do not post any profanity (harsh or mild) or pornography in the forum.”
We think mild profanity is fine.
“-Please, no posting in all caps. For one, it's hard to read and also considered as yelling or screaming.”
Sounds fine. Some rule on using basic grammar and punctuation might be worthwhile here too.
“-No posting live auction links (except your own). If you want to show someone a picture featured in an auction, find the properties of that picture and post that URL directly.”
Given that we have a category specifically for ongoing auction links, I disagree with this one. I was once asked to remove a link by someone, and I was happy to do so, but I think this should be left at the discretion of the poster. Also, what if a member wants an auction to stay anonymous, do we remove the link? Comments?
“-No panhandling posts which consist of requests for money and donations.
Necessary rule?
“-No deliberate hi-jacking of threads. Wandering off-topic is allowed. If the author of a thread feels his or her post is being deliberately hi-jacked, he/she may contact the admin via PM.”
Sounds fine.
In addition, we think a rule on the following may be a good idea:
Consecutive posting. Allowed within the reasonable (perhaps up to 3?) but it's definitely preferable to edit the previous post, unless a thread needs to be bumped.