- paulmarv
- |
- Exalted Legendary Member
"Once Bungie takes over the world, The Marty Army will take over Bungie and then we'll really have some fun."
-Marty O'Donnell
"Condemnant quod non intellegunt."
Make Bungie.net More Enjoyable: Read & Follow
I've been a regular member on this site for over four years now - I love this community, it's leadership, and it's management; however today I realize that I think I shy away from posting on the main forums more than other people do and I am making this thread so that I can better understand what the proper balance of reserve and "straying" is most proper...
My question derives mostly from the first dictum in the third section of the new forums rules:
- Use common sense. This is a video game developer's website. Keep your posts on-topic and "safe for work". The further you stray the more you'll tempt a ban.
I have never been banned and I am, by nature of my personality, so scared of breaking these rules that I often shy away from threads that might result in genuinely positive community interaction on account of my absolute unwillingness to "stray". Now, I am not critiquing the forum rules at all, I am just asking how I can follow them better.
Take for instance a thread like this. Although a high percentage of the posts in such a thread are one-line links, or simple "that's awesome bro" remarks, verging on spam - it is nevertheless an entertaining and enjoyable thing to read. Reading is only the first step; it is the second level of community interaction of actually posting that I am deterred from, in the case of threads of that nature, by my strict interpretation of the "don't stray" suggestion in the rules.
Examples include replying to off-topic posts, making kind yet non-contributory and trite comments, one-line links to internet memes/images/Youtube videos, etc. I don't partake in any of this, unlike many who go unbanned.
Where exactly the line has been laid between the "straying too far" and the "edgy, but acceptable" is with the personal judgement of forum moderators. Now, being on the site for over four years, I think I've gained a relatively acute estimation of what would pass and what would be risky. But moderators have changed, as have the rules, and I am asking for a way that would help me better understand where this line is drawn so that I can either continue with my strict and Draconian policy of conservative reservation, or so that I can see that I should be more out-going and slightly less restrictive when posting in the main forums.
I suppose some sort of index or list of documented bans would do the job. I understand that there is an impetus to preserve the anonymity of the banned, and therefore, perhaps a list of ban reasons with the rule-breaking text itself (no names) would be very helpful. I don't know if this could be a site feature (unlikely, considering that Achronos is busy with the New Hawtness and that he has stated the traditional system of these forums to be obsolete anyway), or perhaps even a volunteer effort by the mods (who are busy, I know) or the banned. Perhaps as an HFCS resource, perhaps as an addendum to the rules. All I know is that other than word-of-mouth, and other than actually seeing violating posts get retracted, the only place that lists bans and their causes is the Whaambulance group, and the causes for banning in those instances are near-invariably obvious and unrelated to this ambiguous clause in the forum rules about which I am posting.
Thanks everybody!