Forum/chat rules discussion

[Sett 79]

I would propose, that we reconsider some of the rules before launch. To put it bluntly, some of them are simply unnecessary, while some will cause more damage than good. Wall of text incoming, please read the bottom line at the very least.

Ingame all chat:

4. Offensive statements about other users, all kinds of provocation. A flame. Unless someone is repeatedly, intentionally, excessively vulgar I suggest we leave it to players. We are 99.5% adults, we can take it.

6. Discussion of "bugs", "bots", including situations bearing the same meaning. Except for guides on exploiting serious bugs and bypassing bot protection I don't really see how discussing them can be harmful. On the contrary...

7. Calls to leave the server or messages, infroming other people of you leaving the server. While undestandable, this one will be hard to effectively punish...

 

Forum:

Create topics: All of them, really.

While I understand the impulse (s, massive 's') that made you put those rules in.... Are you nuts? Seriously. Half of the forum users join in only to solve ingame problem. They create a "Help!" (2.4) topic (85th one concerning the same problem-2.1) in the first section that appears remotely related (2.2). If noone answers in five minutes, they create another (2.1, 2.3), then start insulting the staff (2.5). There you have it, all five rules broken in the first ten minutes (not that they would bother reading the rules).

But still, even this kind of people we should give a chance, and help them, not bully them about rules (which WILL happen if those rules stay).

 

Posting messages:

3.4 False information. Only if you can prove intention - good luck with that. Everybody is wrong sometimes, it's not a crime, nor should it be punished.

3.6 Offensive statements about other users, all kinds of provocation. A flame, same as ingame, with the possible exception of trolling new players being punishable.

3.8, 3.10, 3.11 (where is 3.9?) are smart actually. But still problematic. I'll get to "why" shortly.

 

Other:

4. Discussion in any way:      4.1 Actions of the forum administration/moderators. Use private messages to contact the administration. Again understandable, again problematic.

5. Posting in any language except English in "English-speaking Community Forums". Posting in other languages is allowed in special sections of "Other Languages Communities Forums". If you want to create your language community, contact the forums administration. And again. I'd actually keep this one, but change it to require english translation, but not ban original text. That way we can keep the "main" forum understandable for everyone while still helpful to minorities. It is often better to do your own Google tranlate, than to try and decypher that Urdu guy's translation...

 

THE BOTTOM LINE:

The reason why I suggest we reconsider these, is because they will be hard to maintain, by players and by the staff alike. Some of those seem very natural to do unintentionally. E.g. someone ask about a problem in shout that is related to some bug. Many people would be compeled to help him and answer (probably in shout again). but now it may be punishable. Obviously, these rules cannot be followed to the letter. But once you set a precedent of letting minor infractions pass, the salami tactics will set in, and with a lot of grief on top ("He gets away with it and I dont? You @$$4013$!"). And it will be next to impossible to draw the line, even for very mature and experienced moderators. Seriously, this is king Salomon's job...

On the other hand, in case you do intend to keep them, to the letter, these tules will be outright impossible to maintain, You'd need his own moderator for each player online....

 

Such is my opinion.

/Discuss

[Kse 1847]

Rules are to follow and not to discuss.

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