Rules Lately

Well, as far as I can tell, the majority of the users here have read (and responded to) the rules thread, but I'm noticing a lot of "failure to comply" lately.

A couple users now have left, seemingly because of this, and I'm beginning to want to follow them, if this isn't fixed.

To quote the rules:

kahoku Wrote:Rules

1. All members shall act in a civil manner. Please be polite and respective of other members beliefs. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

2. Language shall remain professional at all times, excessive vulgarities or slang which will include slurs and chat language is prohibited. We are a PG/PG13 board.

3. Members of the administrative staff have the final word, we are open to discussion but not to argument.

4. This forum is here for support, as well as for learning. Content or placement of petty personal issues that serve to detract from these goals is prohibited. Save the drama for your journals please.

5. Please watch your spelling and grammar. We have members who do not speak English as a first language so please be mindful of your punctuation and spelling.

6. You must abide by the rules and we will assume you have read them. Ignorance is no excuse. Thank you.

7. After your account is activated, please have the courtesy to introduce yourself in the appropriate subforum. We don't mind if after that you prefer to read more posts as opposed to post any, but an introduction gives our members a chance to welcome you properly to the forum and to get acquainted with you. If you have 0 posts after a month of activation, your account will be deleted.

Mainly, I'm seeing a lot of people (and several profuse offenders, though I won't name names) breaking rules 1 & 6. I'm not going to say I haven't stepped over this line a couple times, but every time, I've been goaded into doing so by others already doing so.

I don't really know what else to say here, and NO I will not go link or quote examples, as I think this is fairly evident, recently.

Xanthus Wrote:I'm not going to say I haven't stepped over this line a couple times, but every time, I've been goaded into doing so by others already doing so.

Yes, OKP does have rules and yes, we do expect members to follow them. Tempers and attitudes have been on edge lately so everyone is a bit cranky. That does not give anyone the right to argue and be rude to anyone else, but it could explain it. I will speak to the other mods/admins about this, but please do not escalate the problem by rising to anyone's bait. If you feel that you've been unfairly treated, pm me with specifics names and examples and I will discuss it with the team. Also, please do not continue to discuss the issue with the person you're having a problem with as it will only continue to snowball the problem. Thank you.

Honestly, I think the root cause was that "Hot Seat" thread. Things seem to have been going downhill since that thing opened. I thought it was a good idea at first, and I participated and it was a little fun (kinda got ignored, though. Guess I'm not as interesting as I'd hoped. *cry*), but it just seems like the thread's becoming a breeding ground for attitude and it's leaking out all over the forum.

I really like OKP because of the friendly community. If this end up turning into another OK board with a bunch of annoying, rude users who hide behind the "LAWL I'M JUZT BLUNT!" excuse, I quit. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_razz.gif" alt=":P" title="Razz" /><!-- s -->

It is nice to see some good debates going on of late though, instead of being too far in the other end of few comments that add to the topic and just a lot of joking comments. The rules should be followed, always glad of that. Of course I'm not sure it would be fair to root it to the Hot Seat, it seems to have died down before the other topics sparked up - one could just as easily blame the otherkin pet peeves thread, or the position of the moon and stars...

Good debates =/= verbal throwdowns, soapboxing and telling ppl off.

I'm all up for 'good debates' I absolutely LURVE those.

As to Hot Seat dying down? I don't think it did. I think it just dispersed to the rest of the forum.
I like the idea of the Hot Seat thread - but it needs to stay there. I don't want EVERY thread here to be the Hot Seat thread.

Elinox Wrote:please do not continue to discuss the issue with the person you're having a problem with as it will only continue to snowball the problem.

I do disagree with your statement, if you tell someone you have an issue and don't blame them and point fingers, most problems should be able to be resolved without causing a huge up roar. Personally, I would rather someone PM me and say that they have a problem in a non-confrontational matter, rather than a mod coming to me and saying a person has XXX problem with XXX that was done. That would make me mad.

I sort of see what Xanth sees as problem. I see more of problem with people blatantly not caring and saying whatever they want. I do not think the Hot Seat thread any anything to do with any of the issues at all. I believe some of it is just how these people are, so I avoid their posts as much as possible.

BlissfulIsis Wrote:

Elinox Wrote:please do not continue to discuss the issue with the person you're having a problem with as it will only continue to snowball the problem.

I do disagree with your statement, if you tell someone you have an issue and don't blame them and point fingers, most problems should be able to be resolved without causing a huge up roar. Personally, I would rather someone PM me and say that they have a problem in a non-confrontational matter, rather than a mod coming to me and saying a person has XXX problem with XXX that was done. That would make me mad.

I sort of see what Xanth sees as problem. I see more of problem with people blatantly not caring and saying whatever they want. I do not think the Hot Seat thread any anything to do with any of the issues at all. I believe some of it is just how these people are, so I avoid their posts as much as possible.

I meant don't argue in the topic. If you have a problem with a member that can't be resolved in a thread, either go to a mod/admin about the issue or take it to pms. We don't want the forum cluttered with arguments between members.

one thing that also helps, is you see the exclamation point button by the quote button. use it. it's funny how much we have to say that on our board, people start to complain about so and so and continue in a topic, but no one reports said topic so we are not away aware. i'm sure the same goes here for this board as well.

Personally, I don't like the whole "!" as I have not seen it resolve anything on other boards. I believe that some people shy away from such things just because a) they would rather just disregard the people they have a problem with cause it is easy b) they don't see the annoyance as something so horrible that they feel an overwhelming need to report the issue c) they see so many violations they they get tired of hitting the "!" and making the long explanation to why they hit "!".

I don't read every single post on the board - just not enough hours in the day. I don't know if any one individual staff member does read and recall everything.

Also, a lot of what I see as entirely acceptable behaviour some other people see as completely past the line - and vice versa. That said - if the staff are not aware there is a problem, the staff can do nothing to correct it.

The OP said he didn't want to name names as it was fairly evident who was doing what. Fairly evident to one person does not mean fairly evident to others.

If you have a problem with how someone on the board is acting, actually make the staff aware of it. Assuming it's obvious to everyone else and then being annoyed that nothing is done achieves nothing at all.