Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

Hi MoFos.

I've been talking about it for awhile, but it's actually going to happen in the next month or two: I've been making a list of possible rule tweaks and the mods and I are going to have a little unofficial summit to go over some of the pros and cons for each.

I can't say what these would be, for the simple reason that I don't yet know myself. But it's a good bet that we'll be considering things like:

1) Loosening certain rules about self-promotion (if the link is relevant enough, for example).
2) Developing a clearer idea of what constitutes harassing another user.
3) When duplicate threads are permissible (for example, if enough time has passed).

Things like that. It's still pretty amorphous, so I'd love to hear from some of you guys about the issues above, and any other things that have bugged you, or which you feel we've missed. I'm going to be putting a lot of thought and soliciting quite a few opinions about this, in the hope that the resulting modifications will really stand the test of time and strike a nice balance. It'd be awfully helpful to get a feel for what you all think. :) Thanks in advance!

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

I wouldn't mind seeing self promoting posts providing the link is film based and the person doesn't flood the boards with it.

On the harrassment issue, that's a hard one to call. I'd rather leave that up to a case to case basis, but if you feel more comfy with a proper structure that's fine by me

On the duplicate threads thing, yes good idea. It is pretty dampening specially for someone new when they start a thread and a long time poster asks why they didn't contribute to the one already there, the one that the newbie wouldn't have been able to find anyway. Let's face it there's hardly any topics that haven't been discussed at some point but having a whole fresh thread for newer people is sometimes more invigorating. I always think it's kind when people join in threads that newbie's have started and they just give a link to the old thread saying something like 'you might like to read these too' .

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

On the first one, I don't see the problem with someone having a link in their signature to their own review/movie-related site (providing it isn't obviously illegal downloading or porn, I suppose), as long as their post is relevant to the discussion it's part of, not just random spamming.

On the others... pretty much what Christine said :) It's annoying to have two threads at the same time discussing the same new movie, and we don't want to be inundated with 'wat is ur top ten muvies' threads. But I guess there are some cases where it would be ok to have a duplicate/similar thread to a long-deceased one.

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

The other two I don't have a very strong opinion on, but IMO, I think we should continue combining threads and not starting new ones. Although, it is more work for you mods, and so it should be more your call there. I just feel like we might lose a lot of posts that way. :shrug:

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

Thanks for the thoughts so far. I'd like to revive this thread as this is getting closer to happening. I don't anticipate dramatic changes, but they could have a significant effect all the same. Any other thoughts? We're definitely looking at an overall loosening of self-promotion restrictions, provided the information posted is highly relevant.

Don't know about other issues, but probably we've all got our feelings hurt when someone trashes us or our opinions in this forum. I've likely hurt some feelings myself. On the other hand, if we're big enough to play online in forums, we're big enough to take a little flame sometime. So I'd go light on the harassment rules myself. If one doesn't like the way someone usually responds, hit the ignore button. If someone really gets vulgar, racist, or just plain mean, then by all means dump the message and the writer.

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

i'd be curious to know what is entailed in the ideas of self-harassment.

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

Well, we don't have anything highly specific; the proposal above is to bring it into sharper focus. So I guess you're voting for that?

At the moment, we tend to characterize something as harassment if it's overtly personal and/or repeated.

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

i'm not sure what i'm voting for since i don't know what you mean. but if it has to do with a sharper focus on harassment, i think i'm all for that.

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

Its alright to change the rules as long as its for the improvement of the forum and for the better condition of conversation of everybody.

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

I will go along with what ever you decide :yup:

Just have one thing to say about starting new threads :yup: I agree with queenie, I think it would be nice to combine them with the old ones :yup:

As for the 2nd one in what constitutes harrassment to another user...I encourage you to not set anything in stone and use your best judgement. If someones an internet bully and does so by not breaking rules then its not the rules that are broken, but the accuser. Ban them - done. People that skirt around the rules can be a chronic pain to any forum.

The point is this is your forum Yoda/Chris. You bought it, you probably put more money into it since acquiring it, and you spend alot of time posting, regulating, etc....This isnt a public forum. You like to run it as if it were but it really isnt. If you know someones causing trouble to forum members, especially knowingly, then you ban them. Whatever rules of behavior you alter will never make a difference without that one basic action taken.

Sometimes a mod has to be an *******. Its just part of the duty. Dont bend over backwards too much is all.

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

Self promotion... I think if it's relevant to the conversation, it should be allowed. This is a site about a creative activity, bound do attract creative people, and what they create should be mentionable, because that's a natural outcropping of the conversation. People coming here for the purpose (ONLY) of attracting traffic to their own projects, that's another story.

Harrassment... that's a tricky one. You're almost forced to draw a distinction between discussion of a given topic and carryover from previous topics. I think at the point where someone is dragging previous conversations into the current discussion, no matter what the current discussion, then you have to define that as harassment. Anything relevant to whatever is the current topic should be allowed, unless there's a pattern of provocation. Seriously though, this one is messy. I've had it blow up in my face in a big way. Good luck.

Duplicate threads - no offense to people who don't post here any more, but I don't give a rat's arse what they think. The appeal of a forum like this is that I get to know my fellow posters a little, enough that I have a context for their opinions on things. So even if there is a 7 year old thread on a topic, I am only really concerned with what the people I (sort of) know think about it. Since this is one of the few forums where the search engine actually works (thank you, Yoda!!!!!) it'd be nice if people still referenced older threads, but I think it's a detriment to conversation to pretend ancient threads MUST be resurrected.

This will be the death of MoFos.

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

Seriously?

i suppose planet news thinks he knows how a forum should be run now that he's met the creator in person.

The creator?? :eek:

i actually have seen some members post promotional links before, in the way that Samsonite said - it was in context to a relative thread, and the member in question wasn't here just to promote themselves. plus they did it naturally. i think even i have done it when i wanted to show off my zine in the Mofo Art Gallery thread. i thought that was okay.

Re: Possible rule changes; opinions needed
 

Yeah, that's perfectly fine. Once someone's been around we know it's more a "here's part of my life" rather than "here's something I'm pushing." In cases like yours the difference is obvious.

It's also obvious, of course, when someone shows up and posts a bunch of nonsense just to circumvent the 10-post link minimum. The possible rule change would apply to something closer to that, where someone is clearly mostly just here to post links to their blog, but does so without posting nonsense and makes sure the links are on-topic and at least fairly relevant.

That's gotten rarer, though, since I posted this. But it used to happen a lot more.

Harassment is generally good to squash to maintain an enjoyable forum. Someone once called me a cotton-headed ninny muggins and yes, it hurt, but I got over it eventually.