(Suggestion) Rules

[WildSimba]

Since I feel, altough it might get a few of you mad, that I should make this suggestion. This is not like that whole anon advice a while back. I don't feel this should be an Anon thing considering this has to do with the whole forum.

The thing is, I think the whole Universal Rules 1 fits all is kind of a bit of a fogged up idea. Sure, while there are some rules that could apply, there are some that don't. The only forum that has absolutely RULES is the universal rules, as far as I can see. I don't count the RP section motherguide as rules, because I guess that's more of a guide to help people not get lost.

First off, this post is going to be long, so don't just post idiodic replies such as "TL;DR", or this "THIS IDEA IS STUPID", because I will report those.

I want this thread to be constructive, and full of ideas whether you like it or not. Even if you disagree, you have to have an opinion as to why you do.

First off, for boards I DON'T feel need any rules, because it's already covered.

Art - doesn't need it, mainly because Art is pretty simple, DON'T STEAL. There, problem solved. But please, if you find a loophole, feel free to point it out.

Member Rooms - should obviously be held within the owners hands. Unless it gets out of control. I think maybe in the universal rules, there can be a little add on to the not asking for staff saying you can't ask for a room eigther.

RPs - Already is fine.

Intro - Duh. As I said, if loophole, post.

Now onto forums I think do, I may or may not give examples.

FAN-FICTIONS - Uh-huh, that's right, you heard it correctly. Often, admins will completely overlook the fact that some of the fictions put on their forum are a little explicit. Just saying PG-13 only I feel can not be enough sometimes. Need proof? I've had to delete my stories before, how much more blantant can it be?

Lion king arcade - NEEDS RULES. I think maybe you can co-incide and do one for The Dens, and for the Lion king related ones. But I think it needs rules, especially against stuff like people discussing illegal stuff. Which By the way, is not even in the official rules.

Other then that, I'd also like to suggest perhaps a guidelines post for staff members, if you haven't already. First off, they shouldn't be singleing out members, or agreeing with bad behavior, and even accepting this. Trust me, I'd rather not post examples on this one, it'd be to much. If you don't feel the staff are reacting fast enough, then what's the problem with adding more? Surely it's hard for 4 people to look over 1,000 members.

Other then that, I can't think of anything. As I said, this isn't to be offended, it's to make things a little bit more clear, for possibly the whole forum.

Just a suggestion. As I said no flamming, or unneeded drama. This is mainly to spark a discussion, so please don't close, or lock this.

[Azdgari]

I mean... I can see maybe the Fanfic one sort of, but... can't you honestly just put PG-13 or 'contains violence etc' in there? I've never seen a fanfic here with more content than some language and violence, and slight adult themes. Anything more than that would probably go against the part of the universal rules that prohibit explicit content... and we always have our staff to call us out on when we're going overboard with explicit content in our stories.

I get that you're trying to improve the rules WS and I think it's a great thing, but... I believe there's something to be said for 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'. Have we honestly been having problems with the rules as we are? The majority of things you put up there you designated as 'already fine'. I agree with the fanfic one. I don't really understand the den/arcade one--other than the 'ask ___' topics, have there been any notable problems?

I agree that illegal content should be banned, though. Or at least kept to PMs, out of the eye of the public.

I mean, I could be wrong, that wouldn't be the first time, but at least to me, these rules have worked fine most of the time and there's been, considering the size of the forum, a remarkably small amount of problems and very very few of them because of lack of rules.

[WildSimba]

If you look deep enough within the forums, you will find a lot of drama.

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9189

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=9984

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=4666&hilit=furry

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=6258&hilit=religion

Some of the above are slightly mentioned in the rules, some are not, some were never locked because it was only the bad people making offensive posts. And that's just a short line of stuff I could dig up.

[KiarasMate]

There actually is already a Staff Guidelines thread, so to speak, in The Staff Area. Not sure if I'm going to get tarred and feathered for revealing that little piece of info seeing as I'm no longer Staff here, but being tight-lipped about confidential information doesn't appear to be a high priority of the staff, at least, outside the forum walls anyways. ^^

I agree with the Fan Fiction issue WS, seeing as I was the one who addressed your Fan Fics and if the definition of what was allowed and what wasn't, was a little more clear and precise, I doubt that would have happened in the first place. PG-13 can be something completely different in each and every members opinion, so more concrete limits of what's appropriate and what's not would be helpful so everyone is on the same page of what's acceptable. :)

Lastly, an update to the Universal Rules would probably be beneficial, but I think the biggest issue, like Mike pointed out in the Ask The Characters Suggestion thread, is that even when an issue falls slightly out of the realms of the Universal Rules and could easily be resolved by making an acception for the grater good, it doesn't because then the entire forum would crumble. These issues rarely ever come up, so I don't see a problem with making an acception to the rule if it's beneficial and makes the forum a better and more enjoyable place to be on. Again though, this is just my opinion and clearly the staff have the final say in anything and everything that goes on here, so yeah. ^^

[WildSimba]

[quote="KiarasMate"]There actually is already a Staff Guidelines thread, so to speak, in The Staff Area. Not sure if I'm going to get tarred and feathered for revealing that little piece of info seeing as I'm no longer Staff here, but being tight-lipped about confidential information doesn't appear to be a high priority of the staff, at least, outside the forum walls anyways. ^^[/quote]

Well, seeing as some stuff that I've pointed out above, perhaps eigther new rules be added, or they aren't clarified enough?

[Azdgari]

I guess I stand corrected... sort of?
I mean, other than the Fanfic thing and the illegal thing, both of which I'm completely with you on, what do you recommend specifically?

[WildSimba]

Well, I didn't really want to get in to specifics, since stuff like rules is up for the staff to decide. Like, I don't really want a say in how it's worded, I just can say that I'd like a rule.

For Fan-Fictions Maybe there can be a system where the advid Fan-Fic readers can judge the storys, and give their opinions on the rating, and whether it's appropriate.

[Azdgari]

It'd be good, but honestly some fanfics don't get enough attention to be rated in that way. Also, it's kind of arbitrary--different people might have different ideas about what's appropriate or not. Perhaps just a disclaimer like "PG-13 for violence, mild adult themes, mild language" or any combination of those at the beginning of the story, with mods deciding if it's out of line? ^^

[SnowyCheetah]

*tars and feathers KM*

jk

Recently, I know of no incidents where members were singled out by staff. And as KM stated, the staff already have guidelines to follow and if they don't follow them, Moka deals with it appropriately.

As for the fanfics, I think perhaps some better enforcement is in order if strong content has become a problem.

as for the lion king arcade, I think it's fine. The fewer forum-specific rules we can have in place, the better because as Mike and I have both stated, red tape shouldn't be put in front ofthe spirit of the forum if at all preventable. Honestly I think red tape discourages posting, which is bad for forums.

[WildSimba]

Oh, and missing guidelines is also not taking away from the spirit? You know what people think if they see things like the link I posted? They think that this forum is bad, and that the staff is guillible. Which in ways... they can be.

And by the way, the way of thinking that it's not happening now, it's not a problem is just a way of sheltering people so that they feel as if it's not an issue. But stuff like staff being directly mean to a member stuff like that has happened in the past, and if it's happened, there should be some sort of something to deal with it. Just because it's not happening, doesn't mean in the near to distant future, it couldn't happen.

And I saw TWO staff members completely ignore the discussing of illegal things topic, and if the guidelines for staff don't state stuff like that clearly enough, then it should. It's not even in any rules on this whole forum NOT to post stuff like that, so some stuff is a little unclear.

So how can you take away from the spirit of the forum from implenting more rules, when your already taking the spirit away by not enforcing the current rules, and making some rules not even full enough to really understand.

As with fan-fictions, I still think there definately is something needed to be done. I'm just not 100 percent what.

Also, another thing that should be made more clear is what words are less then the word "Damn", because that can be unclear upon opinion too.

And another thing with the red tape thing... don't you wonder why so many people have left/been leaving/are thinking of leaving? It's because you guys make it unclear of something, and then suddenly bite them with a rule that they have never even heard of, and expect them just to be good about everything. But if something needs to be changed, you shouldn't shelter everyone from thinking it isn't a good decision, by telling them stuff like this.