Post by Haxx on Apr 4, 2009 16:04:39 GMT -6
As any member should, I have been well aware of the rules even before I signed on. I have seen sites, both those that have managed to run for years and those that dived into ruin within weeks. The rules of a site are instrumental in this. So, I took a close look at the rules of this site.
If a rule is in place, Admins are usually willing to fight tooth and claw to justify them being there at all. If they cannot be justified this way, I believe they should not be on the list. I will indentify the problems here one rule at a time, line for line.
First of all, demeaning your members by calling them ‘Primative screw heads’ is not showing them an appropriate level of respect. These are your guests, without a member base a site is nothing. This could be responsible for driving off more members than you might think.
Rule 3 also suffers this malady. ‘Don’t be a dousche’ might be the rough idea, but it does not give a good impression of the site at all.
Rule 6 is irrelevant. It is part of Powerplaying, which could easily be summarized in Rule 3 and does not need to be listed individually.
Rule 7 seems a rather shallow effort. As I stated at the beginning of this post, All staff actions should be so well justified that it could be explained clearly and a staff member should be willing to on a number of different levels and occasions. Contrary to popular belief, Staff can make mistakes. By saying your members cannot debate or disagree with them, you are telling them two things.
First of all, they cannot correct you, even when wrong. They cannot express any negative opinion, meaning the site could easily be steered the wrong direction. The entire site might be able to see it, but by the rules all they could do is leave you to drive the site to destruction. Congratulations on losing any decent members you had at this point. Second, it implies they have no say in site activities. This might as well kill your site outright, because this will lose members even faster than the first reason.
Rule 11 I certainly hope is part of C-box’s terms of service, or you have very little reason to truly put it here. The worst thing Religion can bring to the Box is Arguments, but you have already disallowed this kind of discrimination with Rule 5. Consolidate this. This also overlaps with Respect all members, That rule alone could cover this section.
Rule 13 is included in Rule 5. These consistent repeats only make the site appear more and more terribly arranged. Include Rule 13 into Rule 5.
Rule 14, yet another repeat. Include this with powerplaying in Rule 3.
Rule 15 is the reverse to popular trends I have seen on most Roleplay sites. Most sites assume threads are open unless marked otherwise. Most encourage marking every thread to some degree or another, Popular titles include ‘Open’ ‘Private’ ‘Character name’. You could request everyone marks their thread rather than making this somewhat conservative assumption.
Rule 16 has two errors. First of all, the typo once again adds to the growing sense this site has no clue what it is talking about. Second, it is in breach of Proboard’s terms and conditions. What does this mean? This means Proboards can tear this site from their servers if one of their staff find evidence of this occurring. It is your site, but unless you want it torn down I would resolve this.
Rule 17 I believe is just plain uncalled for. This may apply more for young members protecting themselves, but I have seen scores of photos online and it does not provide any more grounds for safety concerns than any other image hosted online. Myspace and similar sites are absolutely flooded with photos. I fail to see how it is an issue for all members to keep in mind. By all means, no one is being forced to post photos, it simply grants people who wish to the ability. Proboard’s terms of service is quite clear what can be included, and Staff can easily remove inappropriate material just like inappropriate text.
Rule 19 is fair, but clarification might be needed to what is a ‘good’ reason not to be posting. It should also show what counts as inactive. How is it judged? Last post? Last log in date? What about C-Box? Because there is no way I have seen to check activity on that, messages are not even timestamped.
That is current rules covered… Now for New rules which should be implemented.
No IC/OOC crossing. I cannot stress how important this rule is. This rule enforces the line between what happens in a roleplay context. Haxx and myself are not the same person, and to allow anyone to influence their character’s actions because of a dislike of me (or vice versa) might as well destroy the point of roleplaying in the first place.
Signature size. 725 x 300 is a reasonable size to use as an absolute max. There is no need for signatures that is bigger than their main posts, In places it can disrupt forum layout and makes entire threads look tacky when the Signatures are longer than the actual posts. At best it is slightly mocking of the posters ability and irritating to others. At worst, it outright makes the site appear incompetent and seriously alters the sites formatting.
These are not the only issues with the site I have come to see, but this thread is for Rule suggestions. I will keep other suggestions for another time. So, comments, feedback, all members are welcome to reply. If this doesn't get an administrator response there is most definately something wrong here.
If a rule is in place, Admins are usually willing to fight tooth and claw to justify them being there at all. If they cannot be justified this way, I believe they should not be on the list. I will indentify the problems here one rule at a time, line for line.
First of all, demeaning your members by calling them ‘Primative screw heads’ is not showing them an appropriate level of respect. These are your guests, without a member base a site is nothing. This could be responsible for driving off more members than you might think.
Rule 3 also suffers this malady. ‘Don’t be a dousche’ might be the rough idea, but it does not give a good impression of the site at all.
Rule 6 is irrelevant. It is part of Powerplaying, which could easily be summarized in Rule 3 and does not need to be listed individually.
Rule 7 seems a rather shallow effort. As I stated at the beginning of this post, All staff actions should be so well justified that it could be explained clearly and a staff member should be willing to on a number of different levels and occasions. Contrary to popular belief, Staff can make mistakes. By saying your members cannot debate or disagree with them, you are telling them two things.
First of all, they cannot correct you, even when wrong. They cannot express any negative opinion, meaning the site could easily be steered the wrong direction. The entire site might be able to see it, but by the rules all they could do is leave you to drive the site to destruction. Congratulations on losing any decent members you had at this point. Second, it implies they have no say in site activities. This might as well kill your site outright, because this will lose members even faster than the first reason.
Rule 11 I certainly hope is part of C-box’s terms of service, or you have very little reason to truly put it here. The worst thing Religion can bring to the Box is Arguments, but you have already disallowed this kind of discrimination with Rule 5. Consolidate this. This also overlaps with Respect all members, That rule alone could cover this section.
Rule 13 is included in Rule 5. These consistent repeats only make the site appear more and more terribly arranged. Include Rule 13 into Rule 5.
Rule 14, yet another repeat. Include this with powerplaying in Rule 3.
Rule 15 is the reverse to popular trends I have seen on most Roleplay sites. Most sites assume threads are open unless marked otherwise. Most encourage marking every thread to some degree or another, Popular titles include ‘Open’ ‘Private’ ‘Character name’. You could request everyone marks their thread rather than making this somewhat conservative assumption.
Rule 16 has two errors. First of all, the typo once again adds to the growing sense this site has no clue what it is talking about. Second, it is in breach of Proboard’s terms and conditions. What does this mean? This means Proboards can tear this site from their servers if one of their staff find evidence of this occurring. It is your site, but unless you want it torn down I would resolve this.
Rule 17 I believe is just plain uncalled for. This may apply more for young members protecting themselves, but I have seen scores of photos online and it does not provide any more grounds for safety concerns than any other image hosted online. Myspace and similar sites are absolutely flooded with photos. I fail to see how it is an issue for all members to keep in mind. By all means, no one is being forced to post photos, it simply grants people who wish to the ability. Proboard’s terms of service is quite clear what can be included, and Staff can easily remove inappropriate material just like inappropriate text.
Rule 19 is fair, but clarification might be needed to what is a ‘good’ reason not to be posting. It should also show what counts as inactive. How is it judged? Last post? Last log in date? What about C-Box? Because there is no way I have seen to check activity on that, messages are not even timestamped.
That is current rules covered… Now for New rules which should be implemented.
No IC/OOC crossing. I cannot stress how important this rule is. This rule enforces the line between what happens in a roleplay context. Haxx and myself are not the same person, and to allow anyone to influence their character’s actions because of a dislike of me (or vice versa) might as well destroy the point of roleplaying in the first place.
Signature size. 725 x 300 is a reasonable size to use as an absolute max. There is no need for signatures that is bigger than their main posts, In places it can disrupt forum layout and makes entire threads look tacky when the Signatures are longer than the actual posts. At best it is slightly mocking of the posters ability and irritating to others. At worst, it outright makes the site appear incompetent and seriously alters the sites formatting.
These are not the only issues with the site I have come to see, but this thread is for Rule suggestions. I will keep other suggestions for another time. So, comments, feedback, all members are welcome to reply. If this doesn't get an administrator response there is most definately something wrong here.
