Attention: You must post once before you can access most of the Boards features
Enjoy! Share! Debate!... it's all good.
Rules will be made up pretty much based on need.
The underlying rule of these forums are "Don't be a Douche". Just don't. Anything that is douchey, leave outside.
Specifically, don't post things that would drive others away- so no hate speech, nothing overly graphic, and ensure your posts are adding to the community rather than detracting or keeping it stagnant (by spamming for example).
No language filters as of now. Be warned!
No Editing-- Note, we will not edit posts for questionable content. We may ask you to edit your posts and if there is something we feel needs to come down, we will delete the entire post. By editing, we are saying we are responsible for what you say, and we're not even going to get into that territory. There is a good chance something questionable could be up for a few days before anyone notices, but when we do, we'll probably delete, ask you to reword/ take something out and post again, or something similar. So don't mix a piece of crap in with the fillet mignon because the whole dish will get canned.
Overall, enjoy and participate!
Edit 08/28/08RULES:Ok, as we've grown in members, it's time to nail down some rules. Whenever possible, they will be presented in a formula format for easier understanding, easier for me to explain, and to keep in the Gameology spirit. Again, these will be slow in coming, but watch for them.
1) Not all things are created equal. There isn't really a true sense of "fair" here. Everyone will not be treated equally.
Most things will be treated based on a person's "Value". Let's call that your "V" score.
V= (C+M+2P+.5R) - 3H
Value= Contributions to the forums
(includes adding good ideas, humor, diplomacy, debate, new ideas, and other things that help build overall) +
Maturity level (which will be shown by levelheaded responses to difficult situations, walking away from a bait, and when appropriate, a witty, thoughtful burn) +
2 x Podcast inupt (these boards are first and foremost for the podcast, so even someone who doesn't post in the general forums but gives feedback on the podcast ranks very high on the V scale) +
.5 x Respect by other community members
(The G-Fu score will play into here, but also how the other people with large V scores see you. It's not a huge part, but this helps show me if maybe I'm way off about someone and being too hard on them. If I think highly of you though, know that a low R score will never lower my opinion of you, it can only help) -
3 x Hassle (how much of a hassle are you? Do I groan when I read your posts? Do you cause trouble? Do I have to "clean up" after you? Are you reporting 3 posts a day unnecessarily? Basically, are you causing me extra work?)The modifiers show the approximate weight of each score-- the Hassle is obviously the most important, so once in a while, even someone who contributes can have a negative image if they cause too much hassle.
However, if you contribute a lot and have the other scores high, you will be able to get away with more. This is where it won't seem fair.
Example:Wooo...you want a cookie?
and
Uh...bullshit?...
and
I look forward to repeatedly taking your "214" IQ and fucking it like a virgin on her wedding night.
I laughed at this. I didn't groan. PI has proven himself to be worthy on many occassions, and even though this is pretty extreme, his Value score balanced it out.
On the other hand, check out some posts I've deleted that were NOT balanced out in the
Garbage Can. Look for "Last Post by Meg". I've enabled recycling so everyone can see what is deleted to learn from it.
NOTES: Just because someone has a high Value does not make them immune. Also, value fluctuates. If PI suddenly hassles me a lot, his posting style may become not appropriate.
The subject of an "attack" by someone with a high Value isn't really considered, so the target of PI's comments above didn't play into my laughing at his comments. It was more like *smile*, *headshake*, "Oh that crazy Shake" *laugh*.
This isn't favoritism-- this is an objective look at who is valuable on these forums and who we want to be around to help us promote them and the podcast.
No one registers with a negative score. No one. Even if you've been kicked off forums in the past, everyone gets an equal chance here.
Sometimes I may know someone from real life or from other forums, which means they may start with a few positive points, but for the most part, everyone is welcome and everyone is encouraged to participate. If you just want to "be here", that's fine too- just make sure you provide enough to balance out any hassle you may cause and you'll be fine.
This is a community for the Brilliant Gameologists podcast and web venture. We want people around who we respect and who add to that community.
2) Stay on Topic! Again, check the garbage can for examples of posts which have gone off topic. In the thread "What Turns you on?" post things that turn you on! Not how much a date sucked. In a thread about where the Moderators are for a weekend, don't fill it up with off topic chatter.
Sometimes a thread meanders and becomes something else, and that can be ok. In general, stay on topic when:
- # of posters posting off topic/# of posters in thread < 50%
- # of off topic posts in thread/ Total # of posts in thread < 75%
I don't want 2 people to take over a thread and start having their own conversation. Look at the number of people first and foremost still on topic.