New Rules - Public Input

[smooshable]

The Mod/Admin team have discussed the new rules and think we've come up with something pretty good but we want a bit of user feedback before they are finalised. There are two versions, a short version that I suspect is all most people will read. It is a paraphrased list of the rules for people who don't want to read the long list. The long list however defines in detail the rules and the concequences associated with breaching them. It would be good if as many people as possible could read both and put in a few comments. Even if you just spot a spelling mistake I'd appreciate it.

[smooshable]

Rules – Short version
This is the short version of the rules. It’s to give a brief overview of the SGW rules for all users who do not wish to read through the long version. For a detailed list of rules along with the penalties associated with them please see this thread.

1 ) Usernames must not contain swearing or any other prohibited word or phrase. Usernames cannot be created with the intent to impersonate other users or moderators / administrators.

2 ) Spamming of the boards is prohibited on these forums.

3 ) The language that is to be spoken on these boards is English.

4 ) The use of swearing is prohibited on these boards.

5 ) The abuse of other users whether through verbal attacks on their character, threats against them as a person or attacks on another’s race / gender / ethnicity or other minority status are prohibited on these boards.

6 ) The posting of pornographic or other criminal content is prohibited on these boards.

7 ) Advertising of non-‘Kingdom Games’ games is prohibited on these boards.

[smooshable]

Stargatewars Forum Guidelines

Sections
1. Prelude.
2. Warning points.
3. User accounts
a. > Allowed names.
b. > Multiple forum accounts.
c. > Imitating or pretending to be another user.
d. > Imitating a moderator or administrator.
e. > Posting for banned users.
4. Spam
a. > Topics.
b. > Replies.
c. > Locking threads.
5. Language
a. > English.
b. > Profanity.
c. > Abuse / Racism.
d. > Pornographic and criminal content.
6. Role Playing.
7. Advertising.
8. Appeals process and the Ombudsperson.
9. Exceptional circumstances.

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Section 1: Prelude:
These guidelines apply to all members of the forum community. There may be a small amount of variation in specific forums however all users and moderators are expected to follow these guidelines in all other cases. Common sense will be used in the application of these guidelines but not at the expense of consistency.

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Section 2: Warning Points
The standard penalty on the SGW forums is the giving of ‘warning points’.

If a user is given three warning points then the user will receive a two week ban. After receiving a third two week ban (nine warning points), the user will receive an indefinite ban.

Warning points are only valid for six months. After which time they will no longer count towards possible future bans. Two week bans stay on a user’s record for one year.

A user can only return from an indefinite ban after contacting the Ombudsperson and arranging a meeting with a forum admin at which the user will present their case for being unbanned. The user will also present two respected members of the community to vouch for the reinstatement.

Section 3: User accounts.
a. Allowed names.
When creating your forum account, your user name should not contain any profanity or other words that may be reasonably offensive to another member of the community

Consequence:
The offending forum account will be removed and the owner will have to create a new one.

b. Multiple accounts.
Members of the SGW forum community are allowed to have multiple forum accounts providing that no account violates any of the other rules relating to allowed names. However if a user account is banned, any multiple accounts will receive the same ban.

N.B. This rule does not apply to in game accounts which are still strictly one per person.

Consequence:
Nill

c. Imitating another user.
The imitation of other users by creating a user account that is intended to deceive the community into believing you are another member of the community is not permitted.

Consequence:
The offending account will be banned and the offending users other account/s will be given one warning point.

d. Imitating a moderator or administrator.
The imitation of a moderator or administrator by creating an account that is intended to deceive the community into believing you are that administrator is not permitted.

Consequence:
The offending account will be banned and the offending users other account/s will be given one warning point. If the account is used to perpetrate a serious fraud upon the community then more points will be awarded depending upon the seriousness of the fraud. This will be judged with input from the Ombudsperson, Forum Administrators and Moderators.

e. Posting for banned users.
Posting for banned users is too hard for the moderators to police and as such is permitted; however if you post for a banned user you take full responsibility for the content posted.

Consequence:
Should the content breach any rule then the consequences will be applied to the account posting the content, not the account it was posted for.

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Section 4: Spam
a. Topics.
Topics will be considered spam if they fit into one of three categories.
i) They appear in the wrong section of the board.
ii) The poster has made more topics than is reasonable for one user within the day. (For a rough guide most users won’t start more than two topics in a single forum within a day however if they are all of interest and relevant to the forum then there is some flexibility to this rule.)
iii) The topic has already been locked by a moderator and the user has reposted the topic.

Consequence:
Topics in the wrong section will generally be moved to the correct section. Users who post too many topics or repost locked topics will be given one warning point.

b. Replies
Replies will be considered spam if they do not contribute to the discussion of the topic. This may include off topic posting or an excessive number of posts that contain nothing more than emoticons or small words such as ‘lol’. While it is appropriate to indicate something is amusing, drowning out a whole thread with such posts makes it hard to follow for all users.

Consequence:
A polite note from a moderator will be issued requesting the user cut down the amount of irrelevant posts. Repeat offenders will be given one warning point.

c. Locking threads.
There are some occasions where a thread or topic breaches the spamming guidelines however not in a serious enough way to give a warning to the users. In the following cases a moderator may lock and/or move a thread.

i) Irrelevance of the topic in the section it was posted (the topic will then be moved/deleted as appropriate with an explanatory note by the mod (if moved) or the original author notified via pm (if deleted)).

ii) In cases of over spamming/large amount of off-topic posts in a reasonably short amount of time that would otherwise involve more than reasonable amounts of moderating. (The topic will be locked with an explanatory note by the mod, and a fresh topic with the same title (Part II, III, etc) created).

iii) In cases where the general discussion of the conversation has changed from it's original intent. (The topic will be locked/split with an explanatory note by the mod).

In each case of locking or moving topics, then the original author, as the topic 'owner' is the only one who should contact the mod(s) or Ombudsperson if they have an issue with the decision or to request re-opening or re-moving.

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Section 5: Language
a. English
Members of the SGW forums are required to speak in English at all times. Members should also respect that English is not the first language of all users and respect that some people struggle with it more than others.

Consequence:
A polite note from a moderator will be issued requesting the user speak in English. One warning point may be issued for repeat offenders.

b. Profanity
The use of profanity on the SGW forums is prohibited at all times. This means swearing, cursing and vulgarity. This includes the use of masking. SGW is a family orientated game and as such the language used must be suitable for children.

Consequence:
The offending user will be given one warning point.

c. Abuse / Racism
Members of the SGW community are required to speak courteously to others. Personal attacks on members are not tolerated. This includes comments about one’s sex, gender, skin colour, religion or cultural heritage. For exceptions to this rule please see the role playing section (section 6.)

Consequence:
Minor infringements such as throw away comments, may be ignored or a polite note from a moderator will be issued requesting the user tone it down. More serious cases will result in the issuing of warning points. Very serious comments will be given more warning points. This will be judged with input from the Ombudsperson, Forum Administrators and Moderators.

d. Pornographic and criminal content.
Posting anything of a pornographic nature is not permitted on the SGW forums. Pornographic being defined as: Sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal (dictionary.com).

The SGW forums are not the place for discussing or facilitating criminal activity. This includes arranging to carry out a crime and the posting of illegal images. This includes copyrighted property.

Consequence:
Generally this will result in the issuing of warning points. Very serious comments will be given more warning points. This will be judged with input from the Ombudsperson, Forum Administrators and Moderators. In cases of criminal activity, the administrators will not hesitate to contact the authorities.

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Section 6: Role Playing
Role playing is an important part of the SGW experience. In order to facilitate this, certain topics will become more heated than would otherwise be tolerated by the moderating staff. It should generally be kept to the Race Forums and the Galactic Colosseum. The normal rules of profanity and abuse still apply however specific taunts towards others within reason and not of a personal nature will be given more tolerance.

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Section 7: Advertising
Advertising of non-‘Kingdom Games’ games is prohibited. This only relates to games that could be seen as being in competition with the SGW franchise. (i.e. Browser based MMORPG’s.)

Consequence:
The offending post will be moderated or deleted. Repeat offenders will be given one warning point.

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Section 8: Appeals process and the Ombudsperson.
While users are free to contact a moderator to make queries, should they feel uncomfortable or unsatisfied with the result, they should contact the Ombudsperson. This includes occasions where a user wishes to appeal a warning point that they feel was given unfairly.

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Section 9: Exceptional circumstances.
In the very rare event that a user causes an extremely large disturbance to the community, the administration reserves the right to place a ban on that user until the problem can be resolved. Users banned in such a way will be told and will have the right to appeal to the Ombudsperson.

[Phoenix of Terra]

c. Abuse / Racism
Members of the SGW community are required to speak courteously to others. Personal attacks on members are not tolerated. This includes comments about one’s heritage, sex, gender, skin colour or cultural heritage. For exceptions to this rule please see the role playing section (section 6.)

Was originally curiously. I think the rest cover everything so far, though the ombudsman position might need a little more description of the powers of the position. Otherwise, there might be an issue of implied powers in the future.

[smooshable]

Good spot Phoenix - keep them coming.

[geisha]

I think you should clarify that advertising non kingdom games rule. It has always annoyed me when mods would lock topics about ANY game, regardless of what it was. They would lock topics about counterstrike, about poker, about monopoly....

That rule is not about video games or board and card games, it is about BROWSER games! For 2 good reasons: 1. Jason doesn't want other browser games to steal his customers and 2. Jason doesn't want admins of other browser games to highjack stargatewars accounts if someone was too stupid to use the same password on their server.

[geisha]

Also, it would be nice if moderator rules and guidelines were posted publicly, so the users do get a chance to report rule violations in case of power abuse and biased or unfair moderating.

The problem we have now is that the normal mortal forum users feel absolutely powerless towards the almighty gods the moderators are. We should not forget that moderators are human too and do make mistakes or might even get completely power mad.

Give the community some trust and the chance to help working on the improvement of the forums. Right now nobody really knows what moderators are allowed to do and what they are not and even in case of obvious moderator screw ups, the community never finds out if a moderator actually has to face any consequences at all. Take Freespirit as an example. Not only has he been abusing his moderator powers, he has also openly been violating the forum rules (swearing, impersonating other users etc. etc.) and yet he is still a moderator, same goes for DaDigi.

I fully understand the frustration of many forum users when the moderators take themselves above the rules. And as long as this is the case, the users will keep revolting and there will be a never ending cold war between mods and users. Very counter-productive.

Oh and before you say what the moderators are allowed to do is mods business, I have got to ask you where you live. In communist China? In some kind of dictatorship? I for one live in a democratic republic where I know what the government can do and where everyone can read things up in our constitution.

[Rottenking]

A user can only return from an indefinite ban after contacting the Ombudsperson and arranging a meeting with a form admin at which the user will present their case for being unbanned. The user will also present two respected members of the community to vouch for the reinstatement.

[Severian]

I'm very much for changes that create a more open and honest relationships between users and moderators. Mods in my mind should not be running a forum, but merely guiding it and making sure everything is running smoothly, stepping in when required.

Its the distancing of Mods that have created a lot of the mistrust and tension in the community and a more equal and friendly relationship would help improve things. If showing thier rules/standards contirbutes to that, I'm all for it. They need to lose the souless image as well as the hierarchical nature of Mod > User. Perhaps even making sure the mods are around on the irc at times so people can get to know the real person behind the account and know that they are just like you and me and not the evil overloads they're made out to be.

Had a read through the new rules and there are a lot of welcomed changes including the expiring of warning points, clarifying what constitutes as insults and dealing with a lot of the issues the community has brought up.

[smooshable]

Also, it would be nice if moderator rules and guidelines were posted publicly, so the users do get a chance to report rule violations in case of power abuse and biased or unfair moderating.

That's largely the reason we introduced a very, very clear definition of what was allowed, what was not and what the concequenses were. There's really no room for a moderator to step out of line without being noticed.

[Mystake]

Just a note to Geisha

FreeSpirit went straight to Jason to rebecome a moderator.

[hidden]

i like how you are saying ombudsperson

anyway i noticed they were mentioned alot

shouldn't contacting the ombudsperson be less of a first resort

i think you should encourage users to contact the mods and if that doesn't work out then contact the ombudsperson

[Cycladic]

Rules – Short version

[...]

2 ) Spamming of the boards is prohibited on these boards.

More grammatical than anything, but it should probably read, "Spamming of the boards is prohibited on this forum."

Though that may just be me picking at the fact it says the word 'boards' twice.

4 ) The use of swearing is prohibited on these boards.

[...]
Stargatewars Forum Guidelines
[...]

b. Profanity
The use of profanity on the SGW forums is prohibited at all times. This means swearing, cursing and vulgarity. Language not suitable for children.

Maybe there should be something about masking/disguising in there, though you'd have to define masking. As in, whether lmao is acceptable, or whether a** is, and so on.

Just another thing about spamming and what content is acceptable on the forum. Such as whether it's alright to create non-Kingdom Games related topics in the miscellaneous boards so long as it's about discussion, as opposed to advertising. Also pointing people to 'The Temple of Whatever' if they feel like posting for the sake of posting.

[hidden]

the non kingdom game rule only applys to competing games(so not halo or pictionary)

also about rule 3 i think the temple of spam should get an exception there(using languages other then english)i mean it can be considered another way to spam(as long as its not offensive of course)

[hidden]

about rule 3 i think the temple of spam should get an exception there(using languages other then english)i mean it can be considered another way to spam(as long as its not offensive of course)

I was going to suggest that, but then I realized that the most likely reason for the rule to begin with, is that when speaking in say Russian, it's impossible for the mods to mod you, cause they dunno what you're saying. Thus it's to avoid headaches.


For instance, let's say Person A says something in German, and let's pretend there are only two people that can speak German, and person B then complains about person A, so Mod X mods person A's post, but person A's post was actually within the rules, and was perfectly exceptable, so naturally person A's complains about their post being censored, and thus begins a big long cycle of headaches it's perhaps better to avoid.

*removes jack from ignore list*some how i just knew it wouldn't work out my curiosity always gets the better of me

now good point jack i had forgotten that if it's in another language people might be breaking rules and no one would know

ok i remove my suggestion