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| Spam, Netiquette And Basic Forum Information; Rules and Regulations. | |
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| Topic Started: Nov 11 2009, 06:24 PM (138 Views) | |
| Miranda | Nov 11 2009, 06:24 PM Post #1 |
The Godmother
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SPAM. 1. Junk email that is sent to your inbox that you didn't sign up for, like advertising email or p*rn. 2. Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages. These can either be the same thread/post repeated over and over again, or threads/posts that consist of just a smilie or a LOL that serve no meaning whatsoever. It can also pertain to a thread started asking a question already answered in another thread or in a stickied FAQ, or an off topic thread. 3. Abusive/obscene posts that serve no purpose whatsover. That includes flaming, which basically means a fight between two or more forum members. Any topics that start to go that way here will be locked and the flame posts removed before the thread is reopened. Don't spoil someone else's thread by attacking another board member; if you have a problem with someone, PM either me or Kitty. 4. Random posts. We have a thread that was made specifically for randomness; it can be found here: Randomness. Post all your random thoughts and comments there; any that are posted as a new thread will be locked. Only make a thread if you have something important to say. 5. Comments posted in RPGs. If you wish to ask a question of a poster about their RPG, PM them; don't post a comment in their RPG. Also, any questions you have about RPGs will probably be answered in the RPG Rules And FAQ topic. Do NOT respond to SPAM, should you come across it. I know you want to be the good person and tell the SPAMMER what they are doing is wrong, but what you are doing is creating TWICE as much work for the moderators, who now not only have to delete the spam, but ALL responses to it. Do your part, report the spam. PM the spammer if you must. But DO NOT RESPOND TO IT! Netiquette. Basically, board manners. A good site explaining netiquette far better than I could is here: The Core Rules Of Netiquette Rule 1: Remember the human. The golden rule your parents and your kindergarten teacher taught you was pretty simple: Do unto others as you'd have others do unto you. Imagine how you'd feel if you were in the other person's shoes. Stand up for yourself, but try not to hurt people's feelings. Bottom line is, on the other side of that computer screen is a human being with the same feelings and emotions you have. Before you send a spiteful private message or attack another user, just think; how would you feel if someone did the same to you? What would you think if someone attacked your best friend or sister like you're attacking this user? Posting nasty attacking messages, either in private message or on the board, is against forum rules and will earn you an infraction straight off. Continuous harrassment of any user could end with you being banned. Is it really worth it? |
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| Miranda | Nov 11 2009, 06:30 PM Post #2 |
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The Godmother
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Trolls. (Taken from Wikipedia) In Internet terminology, a troll is someone who intentionally posts derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages about sensitive topics in an established online community such as an online discussion forum to bait users into responding. They may also plant images and data on networks that others may find disturbing (usually indirectly relating to the individual in person) in order to cause confrontation. How to deal with trolls. I think this picture sums it up perfectly: Posted Image If you spot a user that you think might be a troll, don't respond to them, don't attack them; just PM either Kitty or myself with the name of the user and a link to the threads where they are misbehaving. Then we can do something about them. |
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| Miranda | Nov 12 2009, 08:46 AM Post #3 |
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The Godmother
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This is information for anyone who's new to message boards, so that they know what to do. Making a thread. First, make sure that you're in the correct forum. On this board, we have different forums for different topics. For example, if you have a problem regarding your boyf, post your topic in Dating. If you want to tell everyone about a play you're acting in, or ask for advice on a friend problem, then post in General Discussion. Every forum has a description telling you what it's for. Posted Image The forum description is boxed in red. If you make a topic in the wrong forum, chances are it'll be moved to the correct one. A shadow topic with a redirect will be up for a day. Second, make sure that the topic you want to post hasn't already been posted. If it's a popular topic, that might well be so. If the forum hasn't got many topics, then look thru the pages. Otherwise, use the Search option. Posted Image Finally, post your topic. The button you click is boxed in red below: Posted Image Make sure that you describe what the topic is about in the title box, so people can tell before clicking what your topic is about. If the topic is a help topic, then give as much detail about your problem as you can so that it's easier for peopleto help you. Please try to post as near to correct English as possible; the odd shortened word is fine, but an entire paragraph of chatspeak makes it near impossible for people to understand you, especially if there aren't any full stops or capital letters. Try to spell correctly; we all make mistakes, but at least try. Don't use KrAzY, 1337, or any other kind of irritating text format, such as Typing Like This; these forms of typing are hard on the eyes and difficult to understand. Finally, try not to abuse the colour and text size options. Flavouring your text is fine as long as it's not unreadable; ie, making text in a bright colour like fuchsia or cyan or making it too small or too large. Also, remember that typing in all capital letters is the Internet equivilent of shouting, so unless you have to shout, don't do it. Making a post. Much of the same rules apply to making a post in someone else's thread, there's just a couple of extras. Like, don't reply to someone's doll thread unless you're giving CC (constructive criticism) or commenting on their doll. Don't spam, and certainly don't post your own dolls in there. Make a new thread for your own dolls. Don't post rude remarks about a person's doll, or suggest things that have no bearing on their work, for example, commenting on the base. To reply to a thread, click the Add Reply button. Posted Image |
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| Miranda | Nov 12 2009, 08:56 AM Post #4 |
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The Godmother
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Gravedigging/Necromancing. If you don't know what this is, it's the name for replying to a long dead thread and bringing it back for no good reason. In the case of a serious discussion, as long as you have something to add it's fine and better than making yet another thread on the subject. If you're bringing back your doll thread after a long hiatus, that's fine too. What isn't is bringing up a dead thread just to post "lol" or a vacuous comment. Before you reply to something, check the date it was posted and read thru the thread. If the problem was resolved or the thread tailed off, then DON'T REVIVE IT. Especially if the people who posted the thread haven't been here in ages. Advice threads. Specific advice threads, usually entitled something like "Emma's advice thread" or "Kelly's dating advice thread" are not allowed on this forum. The reason for this is cuz advice threads, in my experience, usually either degenerate into a free fight cuz other users don't agree with what the Original Poster is saying, or they tail off with the OP disappearing and the thread constantly being bumped without any replies to it. So, to keep forums free of clutter and fights, I've decided not to allow them. Any that are posted will be locked. Posting Twice Or Multiple Threads. There is no need whatsoever to post a thread more than once, in one forum. Any repeat threads will be deleted. Just be patient; as long as your thread passes the rules, it will be allowed to stay up and sooner or later, people will respond. As far as posting twice goes, there's no need for that, either. Instead of making two posts, one after the other, edit your previous post. To quote a person, just use the quote tags. That's the icon that looks like a speech bubble right at the end. If you post twice, your posts will be merged; repeated offenders will be corrected. User Titles. When you post, you will notice that you and the other board users have a title under your name. This title will change as you get more posts. Don't, under any circumstances, spam more to increase your postcount and change your title. The posts will be removed and you will receive a warning for spamming. If you continue to spam, you will be dealt with severely. Accounts. Please don't have several different accounts on forums. Multiple accounts are used by members to either escape warnings, or to flame and harrass, so they are not allowed under any circumstances. If you want to make a new account for any reason, you must let one of the admins know before doing so or immediately after, so we can deactivate your old account. Anyone who doesn't abide by this rule will be severely dealt with, and their other accounts deactivated. Repeat offenders will be temp banned, and could even end up with a permaban. Warnings From Forum Staff. Sometimes, depending on the severity of the rule broken, you might get a mod or admin sending you a PM in order to warn you about rulebreaking. Don't delete the PM and ignore it, or send a rude message back. Anyone who attacks and flames the forum staff will be punished. Just accept that you did wrong and try to abide by the rules better in future. Severe rulebreaking and/or harrassment and flaming of the forum staff will result in severe punishment. This will usually mean a temp ban of anything from 48 hours to 1 year, depending on rules broken and whether the user is a repeated offender. This is only taken as a last resort. Personal Information. Please don't ever post any personal information on forums, whether it's yours or someone elses. Doing so will earn you first a warning and the info deleted; repeated offenses will earn you a ban. Personal information is basically real names, addresses and phone numbers. We want everyone here to feel safe and not have their privacy breached. Anyone with personal info in their profiles will simply have their profile wiped to protect their safety or that of others. Fake Siblings. Please don't claim that other members are sisters/brothers when they are clearly not. We do have ways to verify whether two people are posting from the same area, and we are getting fed up with people telling lies and claiming that another person is their sister, usually in a bid to escape the punishment they richly deserve. In future if a person claims to have a sibling on the board and is banned for rulebreaking, their fake sibling will also be banned as we are getting fed up with this. |
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| Miranda | Nov 12 2009, 09:08 AM Post #5 |
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The Godmother
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Glossary Of Forum Terms. Some of you people who are new to forums might not know what all the jargon means, so here is a list of most of the words you're likely to see, both on the board and in moderator/admin messages. If you wish to know the meaning of a word that isn't on the list, then post it here and I'll add it in. Don't spam; read the list carefully before you post as most of the time the word or term you want to know the meaning of will be already there. Some terms are explained above; these will not be included. Administrator - Has complete control over the forums. The admins of this forum are myself and Kitty. If you have any issues with the forum, then contact either one of us. Avatar - This refers to the little picture you can have under your name. There are Avatar size restrictions so if your picture is too large, it will either be rejected or it will be resized to fit the restrictions. If your picture is too large, you may need to resize it. The same rules for Signatures apply to Avatars. Board - Refers to the message board as a whole. Forum - Refers generally to each different part, for example, the Dating Forum, but sometimes can be used to describe the message board as a whole; for example, Dollsters Forum. Forum Rules - These are the rules by which everyone agrees to obey when they first register here. Our rules can be found in the Code And Orders forum, and include this topic. Greeter - A Greeter is a sser who has been chosen to welcome newbies to the forum, tell them the rules, and offer help and support. Our Greeters are Delly, Queenie, and Singergirl509. Harrassment - Refers to a User who repeatedly either repeatedly PMs a person or makes posts referring to them on forums, even after told to stop. Any User who does this will be warned, then banned. In real life, Harrassment could earn you a prison sentence. Infraction - An Infraction is like a warning to abide by the rules. These are given out to people who spam the board with advertisements, attack other members, delete Moderator or Administrator comment warnings, break the rules regarding Signatures and Avatars or who constantly break the general Forum Rules. Moderator - A Moderator looks after a certain Forum or Forums. Her/His job is to keep the forum going if it's slowing down by posting new topics, deleting spam, closing Threads that are either dead or degenerating into fights, and generally helping people and answering any questions. Our moderators are Elanorea, Lovie, Ness, Hayley, and Wolfie. Newbie - This is a term that refers to a new person to the board. Not to be confused with a Noob, a Newbie may be ignorant of the rules at first, but is happy to learn and won't mind being gently corrected, eventually becoming a useful member of the board. Noob - This refers to an ignorant new person who, unlike a Newbie, refuses to abide by the rules; that is, if they read them in the first place. Noobs will remain Noobs, no matter how many posts they have. OP - This refers to the Original Poster, in other words, the person who started the Thread. Private Messages - Private Messages enable Users to send messages to each other, and are also used by the forum staff in order to warn users. Access Private Messages by clicking on the "Inbox" link at the top of the page. Shop - Refers to a Thread in the Shops forum where a User makes either graphics or dolls for other Users. All shops must pertain to the rules of both Forums. Anyone who repeatedly breaks these rules will not be allowed to have a Shop any more. Signature - This is where you can express yourself thru pictures or text. You may put whatever you wish within reason; make sure that pictures are not overly large, and that any text or picture you put in abides by Forum Rules and the Terms Of Use. If you have a Signature that is too large, or breaks Forum Rules, you will be politely asked to remove it. If you do not, then it will be removed for you. If you replace it with the same image/text, or post something rude and offensive towards the forum staff, it will be removed and you will receive an Infraction. Stickies - A Sticky is the term for a thread that remains stuck to the top of the forum, regardless of who posts on it. Stickies are usually information or rules threads. Newbies would do well to read every Sticky before they start posting. Thread - Refers to the original post made by a User. The original poster is also known as the OP. Titles - These are the words that appear under your user name. You can reach another level by posting more, but please don't spam to do this as spamming is against Forum Rules. User - This is the name of the regular people who post on the board. Everyone who isn't an Administrator or Moderator falls under this category. |
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| Miranda | Nov 12 2009, 09:14 AM Post #6 |
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The Godmother
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Respect The Forum Staff. I've found that a lot of users seem to be assuming two things; firstly, that the forum staff have to be nice and polite at all times, and second that we're not allowed to defend ourselves against attacks. Neither of these are correct. The role of the forum staff is to help users; however, we are not required to just sit back and take every bit of abuse that's thrown at us. You wouldn't expect to be made to take abuse, so why think we should? Attacking any member of the forum staff will earn you an infraction same as attacking a board user will. We will be nice and polite only to those users who are doing likewise, however we will not be drawn into fights with users who attack us; instead, the topic will be locked and the user reported. Please do not assume that just cuz you're being told something you don't want to hear, that a mod is being rude to you. The same goes for mods responding to threats; either thinly veiled, or blatent, where a user says they are going to take action cuz of a real or imagined slight. We are not being rude. We are telling you how it is. Please don't respond with attacks or rudeness. If you have a problem with forums or with users, put your case accross in a civil manner. This way, we will be able to help you. If it's a problem with the forums, make one thread only in the Forum Problems forum and be patient. We all have lives outside Dollsters so can't instantaniously appear to help you. Making attacks or posting multiple threads won't help your case in the slightest. If you have a problem with a user, then don't post on the forum; send one PM to an admin detailing the problem as well as linking to any posts on the board that demonstrate your problem. Forward any rude PMs, too. We can only help you if we have as much information as possible. Don't take matters into your own hands and start a flame war; REPORT. Leaving Threads. There are four kinds of leaving threads. (Examples are made up, not quoted from actual users) 1. N00b Leaving Thread.
Basically, they're complaining because they weren't following the rules and are assuming the moderators are being nasty to them and only them. This is not true; to assume that you're entirely innocent is n00bish in itself. If you refuse to read and abide by the rules, you can and WILL be banned. 2. Superiority Complex Thread.
Basically, they're complaining about how they're so much better for the board, even though they themselves have been terrible users and generally n00bish themselves, as well as constantly attacking other members of the board for minor things that aren't even in the rules, like accidental typos and music tastes. This type of person is basically acting like a child taking their ball and refusing to play. 3. Understandable Leaving Thread.
This user is not complaining, they're simply stating a fact. They're letting people know they're not going to be on the board for awhile. This user may also give friends more details in PM. If this is you, an estimate of how long you may be gone and a general idea of what may be going on - family trouble, issues with friends and family, school work overload, etc. - should be posted. ^^ 4. The Whiny Princess Leaving Thread
This can either be left by a complete noob, who wants attention and people weeping on their necks and begging for them to return, or by a completely random user who registered once, never posted more than once and who has hardly ever been seen on forums. If this is the case, then the following message will be posted.
:crazy: Important Forum Information Threads. Linking to them to make it easier to find them. |
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| Miranda | Nov 12 2009, 09:35 AM Post #7 |
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The Godmother
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This is just a reminder to everyone on what to do in the case of dealing with rulebreakers. Doll Or Image Theft If you find out that another user on here has stolen your doll/image that you made and is using it in their profile/signature/avatar without giving you credit or claiming it as one they made, don't go nuts and shout at them, instead inform one of the admins. Please include the following information: 1. Proof that it's your doll. If it has your name on, that will be easy enough; otherwise, if for example it was stolen from a shop, then provide the thread url. 2. Name of the user and a link to their profile. Signatures And Avatars If you see that a user has an avatar/signature that breaks the rules or is obscene, attacking another user or stretching the screen, again don't PM the person. Don't tell the user that their signature/avatar breaks the rules; tell the admins so we can put it right by informing the user. If you are unsure as to what constitutes a rule breaking signature/avatar, then feel free to PM any of the admins and we will tell you. Spam On no account should you tell the spammer they are breaking the rules. If you come accross a spam post or thread, make a note of the url and report it to the forum's moderators. That is what they are for; to look after the forums and clean spam. If the forum mods are not online, then report it to either Kitty or myself. Also, do not message the spammer telling them that they are spamming and to stop it. That is the job of the forum staff, not the users. Rulebreakers It's inevitable that a few people may need reminding of the rules from time to time; however, as forum users, this is not your job. Do not tell a person off, either in the thread or on their profile. PM the moderator of the forum in question, or if the user is breaking rules all over the board, then PM an admin. If you are sending a PM to either a mod or admin about someone breaking the rules, please include the following information: 1. The username of the rulebreaker. 2. The url of the thread where it took place, or forwarded rude PMs. 3. A brief description of what happened. Do not PM us to tattle, or to try and get someone into trouble. We have no use for petty squabbles between users; if you don't like someone on here, then avoid them. If they are expressing an opinion that differs from yours on a thread, don't automatically assume that they are being rude or attacking you unless they actually single you out for abuse. Merely saying, "I don't agree with you" is not abuse. Saying something like, "You're an idiot and I hate you" is. Example Forum user Red_Dress spams General Discussion with one chat thread and two random posts. As it happens, none of the forum staff are online. Before any forum staff can get on, two more users come on. Forum user Blue_Eyes sees the spam and takes it upon herself to post in all three threads telling the user off, as well as sending Red_Dress a PM with "Don't spam! It's breaking rules!" Conversely, forum user Night_Sky, on seeing the spam, PMs the forum staff with a post detailing Red_Dress's spam along with links to the spam threads. Please do what Night_Sky did, rather than Blue_Eyes. Blue_Eyes means well, but is just creating more work for the forum staff, who now have to delete her spam as well as Red_Dress's, and for the admins, who now have to referee the flame war as Red_Dress's friends attack Blue_Eyes and her friends. It is not a short cut to modship doing what Blue_Eyes did; mods are chosen by admin as and when they are needed. |
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