Forum Rules (Draft)

[arxhon]

I think the rules are great. A good combination of "Play nice" and "You are at your own risk here".

On the deletion of posts, i concur that deleting a hasty, angry post is fine before replies to it are made is acceptable. I also feel that leaving the post as an example to others is also a good idea.

We all have strong feelings about gaming. On the other hand, i would hope that we are all mature enough to refute a point without starting a flame-war, or at least take five minutes or so to calm down before replying.

Example: I say "I don't like White Wolf games. I find the system doesn't do what i want it to, and that it encourages munchkinism and power gaming. The setting in general kind of bothers me as well, but i can fix that."

Somebody who replies with "I can't believe how stupid you are. White Wolf is the best, and you are a goat loving f4gz0r for thinking otherwise." shouldn't be posting on the Forge, period.

It makes us all look bad (through guilt by association) by tolerating it.

I've gotten so much of this kind of attitude from RPG.net it isn't even funny.

On the other hand, if someone replies with "You are missing the point. (insert well reasoned, logical rebuttal here)" then this is perfectly fine.

I post on the Forge not because it is "pretentious" or "uptight", but because i find the level of conversation to be of higher quality and more even tempered.

[Shadeling]

Sounds good.

[Nick the Nevermet]

sounds like a good 1st set to me.  Let's try it out and see how it works.

I sort of want to ask about issues involving sanctions for repeated bad behavior, but I don't have any firm opinions on this other than rational discourse is my friend :)

EDIT: It is also a rather unimportant point, because we haven't had any real villains around, as far as I can tell.  A few threads that got touchy, but that is a little different.  

I like how Jake moderated one of those threads, saying everyone should wait for a certain response, and helping to frame some of the issues.  Just thought I'd throw that in too, seeing how I'm talking about what to do about problems.

[Sneaky Git]

I like how Jake moderated one of those threads, saying everyone should wait for a certain response, and helping to frame some of the issues.  Just thought I'd throw that in too, seeing how I'm talking about what to do about problems.

Great example...and I heartily agree.  Jake and Co. have done a bang-up job here.  Furthermore, rules and guidelines are good (and I like the sound of these), to be sure, but only so far as they are obeyed and enforced.  As to that, I would like to state for the record that the quality of contributor here is refreshingly high...and most are polite, knowledgeable, and willing to listen.  Kudos to everyone.

[Brian Leybourne]

Nobody has passed any new comments in a while. I propose we set these rules in stone, with a minor change:

Old Section:

Deleting Posts
At all times we discourage the deletion of posts. If you felt strongly enough to say it in the first place then it should probably remain.

Should now read:

Deleting Posts
At all times we discourage the deletion of posts. If you felt strongly enough to say it in the first place then it should probably remain. However, we realise that sometimes the fingers act faster than the brain. Feel free to delete a post you have reconsidered as long as it is within half an hour or so, and nobody has responded to it. Remember, you may not delete or edit a post that has been responded to.

Brian.

[Sneaky Git]

Nobody has passed any new comments in a while. I propose we set these rules in stone, with a minor change:

Old Section:

Deleting Posts
At all times we discourage the deletion of posts. If you felt strongly enough to say it in the first place then it should probably remain.

Should now read:

Deleting Posts
At all times we discourage the deletion of posts. If you felt strongly enough to say it in the first place then it should probably remain. However, we realise that sometimes the fingers act faster than the brain. Feel free to delete a post you have reconsidered as long as it is within half an hour or so, and nobody has responded to it. Remember, you may not delete or edit a post that has been responded to.

Brian.

Cool.  Nice clarification.

Chris